News Broadcasting
iTV Nework ropes in Deepak Saxena as general manager – sales
MUMBAI: The Kartikeya Sharma founded iTV Network, has appointed Deepak Saxena as general manager – sales, effective January 2025. With a distinguished career spanning over two decades, Saxena is set to play a pivotal role in steering the company’s sales strategy during a time of significant growth and expansion.
Saxena joins iTV Network from Rachna Television., where he held the position of deputy general manager of sales for NTV, a Telugu news channel. In this role, he demonstrated exceptional leadership and strategic skill, managing a talented sales team and developing effective sales initiatives that enhanced the channel’s market presence.
Before his tenure at NTV, Saxena was the head of sales and marketing (North) at Sakshi TV, a leading Telugu news channel. He played an instrumental role in the launch and establishment of the channel in northern India, overseeing the sales operations in Delhi and Kolkata regions. His vision and execution contributed to Sakshi TV becoming a recognized name in the competitive landscape of regional news broadcasting.
Earlier in his career, Saxena held key positions at ETV Network, where he served as group head for Hindi regional channels based in New Delhi. His strategic approach led to significant airtime sales within a cluttered market, allowing Hindi regional channels to carve out a niche for themselves. His career began at Amar Ujala group, where he advanced from space sales in print media to becoming an Advertising Officer.
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Saxena’s academic background includes a bachelor’s degree in economics from Aligarh Muslim University and a post graduate diploma in marketing Management from Lal Bahadur Shastri Institute of Management and Development Studies, where he graduated with first-class honors. This combination of practical experience and academic excellence has equipped him with a solid foundation in both business strategy and marketing prowess.
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: 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.
