News Broadcasting
IBC to have strong presence at Miptv
MUMBAI: International Broadcast Communications (IBC) has announced that it will have a strong presence at the television market Miptv. The event takes place from 11-15 April 2005 in Cannes, France.
IBC president Jon Helmrich says that regardless of local taste and social conditions, movies, celebrities and sports consistently draw huge audiences for broadcasters the world over. Focussing on those three categories, IBC will be offering international buyers proven entertainment packages during Miptv.
Helmrich will tempt buyers with 88 one-hour episodes of Midnight Movies. This documentary series examines cult films as well as their impact on pop culture and modern society. The show premieres on Starz Encore in the US this summer.
The series delves into such films as Pink Flamingos, El Topo, Rocky Horror Picture Show and Eraserhead. The series brings audiences behind the screen to speak with the actors, directors and producers who were intimately involved in the 70s cult film scene. Among the featured interviews are David Lynch and John Waters.
Another special that IBC is bringing to Cannes is Cinenews. This delivers 52 half-hour Hollywood reports direct to international outlets. The weekly reports include the latest box office reports, interviews with today’s hottest stars, red-carpet openings and all the latest happenings from the world’s movie capital.
A popular companion for these weekly reports is Famous. The top star biography series now entering its third season on A&E’s Biography channel in the US. Each episode focuses on a specific ‘mega star’, following their career path and interviewing the celebrities themselves for insight as to how they became and stay Famous. New episodes will include Oscar-nominee Leonardo DiCaprio and Oscar winners Cate Blanchett and Clint Eastwood.
IBC was founded in October 2001 by international television veteran and former HBO and E! executive Jon Helmrich. IBC clients include Chum/City TV from Toronto, Popular Arts Entertainment and The Tennis Channel in Los Angeles. These clients represent over 1000 hours of TV programming covering the world of entertainment, fashion, sports, and lifestyle.
IBC-represented programmes are seen on channels like HBO, Discovery, A&E, AXN, Foxtel, The History Channel.
News Broadcasting
News TV viewership jumps 33 per cent as West Asia war draws audiences
BARC Week 8 data shows news share rising to 8 per cent despite T20 World Cup
NEW DELHI:Â Even as individual television news channel ratings remain under a temporary pause, the genre itself is seeing a clear surge in audience attention.
According to the latest data from Broadcast Audience Research Council India, television news recorded a 33 per cent jump in genre share in Week 8 of 2026, covering February 28 to March 6.
The news genre accounted for 8 per cent of total television viewership during the week, up from 6 per cent the previous week. The spike in attention coincided with escalating geopolitical tensions involving the United States, Israel and Iran, which have kept global headlines firmly fixed on West Asia.
The rise is notable because it came at a time when cricket was dominating television screens. The high-stakes stages of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup, including the Super 8 fixtures and semi-finals, were being broadcast during the same period.
Despite the cricket frenzy, viewers appeared to be toggling between sport and global affairs, boosting the overall share of news programming.
The surge in genre share comes even as the government has enforced a one-month pause on publishing ratings for individual news channels. The move followed regulatory scrutiny of the television ratings ecosystem.
While channel-level rankings remain temporarily out of sight, the genre-level data suggests that when global tensions escalate, audiences continue to turn to television news for real-time updates.
