News Broadcasting
Insat 4A placed in Intermediate Orbit; govt grants Isro Rs 4 bn for space programmes
BANGALORE: The Indian Space Research Organisation’s (Isro) telecommunications satellite Insat-4A was placed in an orbit with a perigee (closest point to the earth) of 622 km and apogee (farthest point to earth) of 36,152 km.
Master Control Facility (MCF) at Hassan in Karnataka acquired the first signals at 4:32 am on 22 December and conducted initial phase operations on Insat 4A. The satellite was launched in the early hours of 22 December from Kourou, French Guyana.
Additionally, as per agency reports, Isro has been granted an additional amount of Rs 4 billion by the government in order to provide a boost to the country’s space programme.
The funding for Isro comes in the wake of the organisation preparing for the mission to the moon in the next five years and also plans to launch seven satellites under the new Insat 4 series programme in a span of three years.
On the other hand, the first critical orbit-raising manoeuvre of Insat 4A was conducted at 6:24 am on 23 December when the 440 Newton Liquid Apogee Motor (LAM) on board Insat N4A was fired for 85 minutes by commanding the satellite from MCF.
With this LAM firing, Insat 4A perigee has been raised to 13,733 km. The apogee is 36,008 km and the inclination of the orbit with respect to the equatorial plane has been reduced from 4 deg at the time of launch to 0.85 deg now. The orbital period is 15 hours 16 minutes.
All systems on board the satellite are functioning normally. The satellite will go out of MCF visibility at about 1:33 pm and come within its visibility at 7:17 am tomorrow. Further orbit raising maneuvers are planned in the next few days.
News Broadcasting
Network18 channels lead YouTube news viewership in March 2026
CNN-News18, News18 India and CNBC channels top categories with record views
MUMBAI: When the world hit refresh on breaking news, Network18’s channels were already streaming ahead. As geopolitical tensions and war-driven headlines fuelled a surge in global news consumption, the network’s digital playbook delivered big clocking record Youtube viewership across English, Hindi and business news categories in March 2026.
At the forefront was CNN-News18, which emerged as the clear leader in the English news segment with 130 million live and video-on-demand views. The channel edged past competitors such as Times of India (126.5 million), Times Now (101.1 million), India Today (88.2 million) and NDTV (77.5 million), according to Databeings data for March.
In the Hindi news arena, News18 India delivered a commanding performance, racking up a staggering 3,297 million views on YouTube. The channel comfortably outpaced NDTV India, which recorded 3,119 million views, underlining its deep reach and consistent engagement with mass audiences, as per Playboard data.
The network’s dominance wasn’t confined to general news. In the Hindi business segment, CNBC Awaaz topped the charts with 92 million views, narrowly ahead of Zee Business (90 million) and well ahead of ET Now Swadesh (57 million). Meanwhile, its English counterpart CNBC-TV18 posted a strong 58 million views, reinforcing the network’s cross-category strength.
The spike in viewership reflects a broader shift in audience behaviour, with viewers increasingly turning to digital platforms particularly Youtube for real-time updates and in-depth coverage during high-intensity news cycles. For Network18, the numbers signal more than just scale; they underline the effectiveness of a multi-platform strategy that blends speed, credibility and continuous coverage.
In a month where the news never paused, it seems viewers chose to stay tuned where the stream never stopped.
