News Broadcasting
MTNL to expand IPTV service by 74 channels
MUMBAI: State-owned telecom major MTNL has added 74 channels after the initial launch of 26 free-to-air channels, earlier this month as part of its IPTV (Internet Protocol Television) service.
MTNL had signed a deal with Time Broadband Services and its Israeli partner Optibase to develop and handle the content delivery network for its IPTV services.
The state-owned telecom provider recently launched IPTV services, through Time Broadband, utilizing Optibase’s IPTV MGW 5100 platforms for its digital IPTV head-end operation at the company’s network operating centre, according to an official statement.
Time Broadband will have Israel-based Infogate Online as its middleware vendor while Verimatrix Inc will provide content protection solutions. The digital headend will be from Optibase.
Together with Time Broadband, Optibase is enabling the launch of the IPTV services in Delhi.
Service provider, Time Broadband is geared up to deploy IPTV services on both TV & PC delivery, through network and internet service providers across the country.
Following the initial deployment of Optibase MGW 5100 IP video head-ends providing 26 channels of Telco-grade streaming, Optibase will now be supplying an additional 74 channels, totaling 100 MPEG-4 Part 10 H.264/AVC channels.
“During the initial deployment, Optibase demonstrated their extensive IPTV know-how relating to H.264 AVC. We were impressed by the quality of the Optibase solution and the superior level of service. Therefore we decided to select the Optibase MGW 5100 integrated digital head ends for the full-scale commercial launch,” said Time Broadband Services’ MD Sujata Dev.
Optibase CFO Danny Lustiger stated, “We are delighted with the success of our first installation of Time Broadband at MTNL Delhi Network and look forward to a long-term collaboration with our globally eminent CDN partners, driving the large scale deployment of IPTV in India.”
IPTV is a system wherein digital quality television service is delivered to consumers using broadband connections.
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.
