News Broadcasting
Martha Stewart TV Show taken off
MUMUMBAI: Emmy-award winning home decorating and cooking show Martha Stewart Living Television would be placed on hiatus as Stewart contends with a criminal conviction, informed Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia (MSO).
The show was distributed by King World Productions to 52 percent of local U.S. television markets.
Stewart was convicted in March of lying to investigators about a personal stock sale and resigned as an officer and a member of the company’s board. She is scheduled to be sentenced on June 17 and legal experts believe she will serve prison time.
MSO says it expects to take a second-quarter charge of up to $2 million as it restructures its television business. The company said it would continue production of its “Petkeeping” show with Marc Morrone and step up development of special programs and new shows, such as “Everyday Food.”
The Martha Stewart Living television program had already been dropped from Viacom’s CBS television stations, reducing license fees and advertising revenues. MSO also plans to downplay Stewart’s name on its flagship magazine.
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.
