News Broadcasting
IBF meeting on CAS in progress: Star TV – Zee TV differences emerge
CAS – or conditional access systems – is causing indigestion amongst players in the broadcasting busines. The Indian Broadcasting Federation meeting which was slated to be held today commenced at 12 noon and at the time of writing is likely to go on for another hour.
According to initial reports the reason why it has taken so long is because differences have emerged between Star and the Zee Turner combine. Zee-Turner’s views on the subject of CAS were made clear by Essel group and Zee TV chairman Subhash Chandra who said that he favoured CAS, almost in total opposition to the Star India position of vehemently disapproving of the manner in which it was being pushed through by the government.
The two former partners are believed to have been at loggerheads on their differing viewpoints on CAS. More updates on the IBF meeting are awaited. Watch this space.
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.
