News Broadcasting
Lamhas Satellite Services Ltd sets up teleport facility in Mumbai
MUMBAI: Satellite services provider Lamhas has opened its first commercial uplinking hub for TV channels in Mumbai. The company offers facilities such as satellite bandwidth, automated server playout and uplinking in the newly-opened division.
The 16,500 square feet facility, located in the International Infotech Park above Vashi Railway Station in Navi Mumbai, is set up on an investment of about Rs 150 million.
“We got all the regulatory clearances for the teleport by December. The entire project was ready by March,” says Lamhas Satellite Services Ltd (LSSL) co-promoter Manoj Shah.
The company offers multi-channel uplinking services in SDI (Single Document Interface), stat mix, routers, matrix, international video gateway, modulators, upconverters and NMS (network management system). Lamhas is also gearing up to provide flyaway kit service in Ku Band.
With the new facility, Lamhas has signed up three international teleports to provide its Indian clients international service. “We have tied up with teleports in Israel (RR Sat), New York (promoted by NRI entrepreneur Deepak Viswanath) and France (Globecast) for multi teleport set up to transport signals to any part of the world,” states LSSL VP Wilfred Lobo.
Lamhas has already announced the card rate for the teleport facility. The entire package, which includes satellite bandwidth, automated server playout and uplinking facilities, cost Rs 1.2 million per month. Lobo said the company was presently in talks with various Indian broadcasters to offer the facility.
“We are targeting all channels who want to uplink from India. We have approached some of the leading broadcasters in the country,” he says.
The company has booked a C-band transponder on Insat 4A to offer clients space on the satellite. Incidentally, Tata Sky will be using the Ku-band transponders from this satellite for its direct-to-home (DTH) service.
Speaking on the expansion plans, Lobo said Lamhas was looking at Delhi and Bangalore to set up its next teleport facility. “We will choose one of these cities. We have already acquired land in both the cities,” he says.
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.
