News Broadcasting
India TV complains to MIB on `India News’
MUMBAI: India TV has filed a complaint in the ministry of information and broadcasting (MIB) saying its “fair name and goodwill” were being compromised because of regulatory permission given to Information TV to run a 24-hour Hindi news channel by the name of ‘India News’.
In a letter to information and broadcasting minister Priya Ranjan Dasmunshi, India TV chairman and editor-in-chief Rajat Sharma has expressed shock at continued references to India News as India TV.
Sharma in his letter has cited several instances including the letter written by National Commission for Protection of Child Rights member Sandhya Bajaj, which is being widely circulated in the press, claiming that a pornographic MMS purportedly of Arushi Talwar, was aired on India TV when in fact, it was aired on India News. Sharma maintained that India TV has nothing at all to do with such an objectionable video.
India TV said in a statement that Bajaj too is being apprised of her erroneous information, but that the damage can’t be undone, because by now many sections of the press have associated the pornographic MMS with India TV instead of India News.
India TV has also conveyed one case in point where The Times of India of 10 June on page three put the erroneous and unjust reference to India TV instead of `India News’.
In an identical letter to Women and Child Development minister Renuka Chaudhary, Sharma pointed out that in a talk show on the Arushi case aired by NDTV, members of the audience and experts invited by NDTV managing editor Barkha Dutt, referred to India TV as the purported broadcaster of the pornographic MMS instead of India News, and it was left to Deepak Chaurasia, Senior Editor, Aaj Tak to clarify.
“Such acts of confusion have emanated out of the regulatory decision to allocate a similar sounding name to the channel owned by Information TV,” said Sharma.
“India TV is exercising every option to protect its name. Our senior counsel Abhishek Manu Singhvi has suggested seven alternate names to the court and it has directed Information TV and India News to carry detailed disclaimers until the disposal of the case,” an India TV statement said.
Sharma pointed out that on 29 April even MIB issued an important letter to India TV, but referred to it as India News. The MIB had to issue a corrigendum on 30 April for the same.
A similar reference to India News when the intent was to refer to India TV was made by the Delhi High Court.
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.
