News Broadcasting
ICC Champions; AIR to broadcast ‘Live’ from 15 Oct., DD to show 9 matches
MUMBAI: All India Radio has acquired the radio broadcast rights from the Global Cricket Corporation (GCC), who holds the international rights for the ICC events. AIR will broadcast Live commentary on all the main league matches of the ongoing ICC Champions Trophy beginning Sunday, 15 October. The commentary will be broadcast in English and Hindi alternately.
65 medium wave stations of All India Radio spread across the country and all FM Gold Channels of AIR will relay the commentary from 2.20 pm on all match days. AIR FM Rainbow will carry hourly updates about the matches and a special interactive studio based programme will be broadcast during the innings break.
The ICC Champions Trophy on AIR is being marketed by the Prasar Bharati Marketing Division in Delhi. Several leading advertisers including Nokia, Hindustan Lever, Dabur, BSNL, Indian Oil have been roped in for sponsorship, informs an official release.
In addition, Doordarshan will also telecast nine key matches of the ICC Champions Trophy, which include all – India matches, the semi finals and the final on its national network DD National.
Doordarshan will also air a match analysis show ‘Fourth Umpire’ – before, during the lunch break and after the match. One hour highlights of the match will be shown the following day from 8 am to 9 am. The telecast of key matches on DD National will enable more than 45 million TV homes in India to tune into the ICC Champions Trophy.
Doordarshan has a revenue share arrangement with GCC for broadcasting the matches on its terrestrial channel. Nimbus Sports is marketing the event.
AIR will broadcast the following matches:
15 Oct – India vs England Jaipur
16 Oct – New Zealand vs South Afrcia Mumbai
17 Oct – Pakistan vs WI / SL Jaipur
18 Oct – Australia vs WI / SL Mumbai
20 Oct – New Zealand vs WI / SL Mumbai
21 Oct – Australia vs England Jaipur
24 Oct – South Africa vs WI / SL Ahmedabad
25 Oct – New Zealand vs Pakistan Mohali
26 Oct – India vs WI / SL Ahmedabad
27 Oct – Pakistan vs South Africa Mohali
28 Oct – England vs WI / SL Ahmedabad
29 Oct – Australia vs India Mohali
1 Nov – First Semifinal Mohali
2 Nov – Second Semifinal Jaipur
5 Nov – Final Mumbai
The broadcast schedule on DD National is as follows:
15 Oct – India vs England Jaipur
17 Oct – Pakistan vs WI / SL Jaipur
21 Oct – Australia vs England Jaipur
25 Oct – New Zealand vs Pakistan Mohali
26 Oct – India vs WI / SL Ahmedabad
29 Oct – Australia vs India Mohali
1 Nov – First Semifinal Mohali
2 Nov – Second Semifinal Jaipur
5 Nov – Final Mumbai
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.
