News Broadcasting
Indian news channels off air in Nepal again
MUMBAI: The Nepalese ministry of information and communication has issued a verbal order to cable operators to shut down the transmission of Aaj Tak and Star News. Reportedly, the transmission of other Indian news channels has also been suspended for covering the government’s attempt to crackdown on pro-democracy protests.
However, when contacted by indiantelevision.com, senior executives of the ‘affected’ channels refused to offer any comments saying they are waiting for more details on the issue.
This is not for the first time that the Indian news channels beaming in Nepal has been suspended off-air. Indian channels were banned last year in February, when Nepal King Gyanendra dismissed the Sher Bahadur Deuba government and imposed a state of emergency. But later, in the month of June, the Nepalese government had lifted the ban on Indian news channels.
According to the reports, security forces had confiscated the video footage taken by CNN-IBN and Star News, which featured the residence of CPN (UML) general secretary Madhav Kumar Nepal.
The Indian print media also receives a similar treatment, where the local administration in Nepalgunj will censor the contents that speaks about the political upheaval. Issues on protest and arrests of any political activists published will be cut out before they are allowed to circulate in the area.
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.
