News Broadcasting
Hit to globally distribute Henson Co’s properties
MUMBAI: Hit Entertainment and The Jim Henson Company have reached an agreement on a five-year global rights and production venture.
Hit will now distribute Henson’s family properties across many platforms, including television, home entertainment and consumer products. In India, Hit provides content to Turner’s children’s channel Pogo.
Henson’s catalogue consist of 440 hours of titles including Fraggle Rock which used to air on Doordarshan. However, the deal does not include titles involving the Muppets or Bear in the Big Blue House. As reported earlier by Indiantelevision.com, these rights were acquired by Disney in February 2004.
In addition to the distribution deal, the arrangement provides for the production of new properties, which will also be distributed by Hit. The first of such projects is Frances. The pre-school programme is based on the best-selling Frances Treasury series of books.
Interestingly, Hit’s founder Peter Orton used to lead Henson’s international TV sales division. Orton was quoted in a company release saying, “The Henson name stands for outstanding quality in programming and we are confident of being able to maximise the value of these excellent properties. The combination of Jim Henson programming and our own pre-school classics presents a formidable portfolio of young children’s properties. We are especially pleased to be forging such a close and strong relationship with The Jim Henson Company, given the shared legacy of both companies.”
News Broadcasting
Network18 channels lead YouTube news viewership in March 2026
CNN-News18, News18 India and CNBC channels top categories with record views
MUMBAI: When the world hit refresh on breaking news, Network18’s channels were already streaming ahead. As geopolitical tensions and war-driven headlines fuelled a surge in global news consumption, the network’s digital playbook delivered big clocking record Youtube viewership across English, Hindi and business news categories in March 2026.
At the forefront was CNN-News18, which emerged as the clear leader in the English news segment with 130 million live and video-on-demand views. The channel edged past competitors such as Times of India (126.5 million), Times Now (101.1 million), India Today (88.2 million) and NDTV (77.5 million), according to Databeings data for March.
In the Hindi news arena, News18 India delivered a commanding performance, racking up a staggering 3,297 million views on YouTube. The channel comfortably outpaced NDTV India, which recorded 3,119 million views, underlining its deep reach and consistent engagement with mass audiences, as per Playboard data.
The network’s dominance wasn’t confined to general news. In the Hindi business segment, CNBC Awaaz topped the charts with 92 million views, narrowly ahead of Zee Business (90 million) and well ahead of ET Now Swadesh (57 million). Meanwhile, its English counterpart CNBC-TV18 posted a strong 58 million views, reinforcing the network’s cross-category strength.
The spike in viewership reflects a broader shift in audience behaviour, with viewers increasingly turning to digital platforms particularly Youtube for real-time updates and in-depth coverage during high-intensity news cycles. For Network18, the numbers signal more than just scale; they underline the effectiveness of a multi-platform strategy that blends speed, credibility and continuous coverage.
In a month where the news never paused, it seems viewers chose to stay tuned where the stream never stopped.
