News Broadcasting
Intelsat 903 satellite successfully launched
The Intelsat 903 satellite was successfully launched aboard an ILS Proton K/Block DM launch vehicle last Saturday 12:25 EST.
According to an official release, the satellite is expected to be operational during the second quarter of 2002. The Intelsat 903 launch is the fourth in an aggressive campaign that is expected to increase total customer capacity by up to 34 per cent by the end of the next year. The 903 satellite will be deployed at 325.5E and will offer capacity for Internet, video, telephony and corporate network solutions to customers on its 72 C-band and 22 Ku-band transponders (measured in 36 MHz equivalent units).
The satellite will provide high power Ku-band spot beam coverage for Western Europe and much of North America and additional C-band capacity to customers in Europe, the Middle East, North America, Africa and South America, the release states.
Intelsat 601 currently holds the 325.5E orbital slot but will be moved to occupy one of Intelsat’s new roles at 178E. The next launch of an Intelsat IX series satellite is scheduled to take place from French Guiana, aboard an Ariane 44L launch vehicle, during the second quarter of this year.
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.
