News Broadcasting
IBF says no to TRAI legal challenge; sets up subcommittee
NEW DELHI: The Indian Broadcasting Foundation (IBF) has dropped the idea of going head to head and legally challenging the newly appointed broadcasting regulator the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) on its directive freezing cable TV rates. Instead it has decided to take a softer line – that of approaching it to “explain the ground realities of the industry.”
A senior member of the IBF confirmed to indiantelevision.com today that a member had floated the idea of legally challenging the TRAI. But after reading the finer print of the TRAI Act, the path of confrontation was abandoned.
“Instead of going the legal way, we, as an industry, should work with the regulator and if there is some confusion, then we should seek clarifications in a civil manner,” the IBF member stressed.
Towards this end, the IBF, at its board meeting today, decided to form a sub-committee to go into the issues raised by TRAI in its consultation paper and has also sought time from the regulator.
The sub-committee would be headed by Zee Telefilms vice-chairman Jawahar Goel and includes ESPN India head R C Venkateish, Ten Sports India MD Sharmista Rijhwani and Sahara TV president Mahesh Prasad.
According to a draft of a letter that is to be sent to TRAI, the IBF secretary-general has said that the Foundation “should be given a fair chance to present our views and explain the ground realities of the industry.”
Referring to the 15 January, 2004, TRAI notification announcing a ceiling on charges payable by subscribers, MSOs and cable operators, the IBF has contended, “This order was issued without consultation with the broadcasting industry and, hence, this order has created utter confusion in the industry. Further, TRAI’s notification included non-CAS areas which were free of these problems so far.”
IBF sources said members did bring up valid points that point towards confusion. For example, would the TRAI order on price freeze mean that a free to air channel cannot convert into a pay service? Till the time, TRAI comes out with a final view on various issues, would the order also mean that no new pay channel can be launched?
Sometime back, the government, through a notification, had mandated TRAI as the regulator for the broadcast and cable services. It could do this on account of an amendment that had been carried out in the TRAI Act last year. Subsequently earlier this month, TRAI came out with an order freezing the cable TV rates as on 26 December and issued a consultation paper.
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.
