News Broadcasting
MTV2 plans to launch in India
MUMBAI: MTV Networks India is expanding its bouquet of channels. The latest to plan an entry into India is MTV2, a channel from the Viacom stable which has a mix of music videos, long form music programmes and a line-up of irreverent, lifestyle and cross platform programming focused on youth and pop culture.
MTV2 has registered for downlink licence. The other channels in the family which are already operating in India are MTV, Nick and Vh1.
“We have applied for downlink licence for MTV2. This is in line with our plans to increase the MTV Networks franchise in India,” says MTV Networks India spokesperson.
As for whether MTV2 would be specifically for direct-to-home (DTH) or be made available on cable TV networks as well, the spokesperson declined to provide further details. “It is too pre-mature to elaborate on our plans at this juncture,” he said.
That the company was looking at expanding its operations in India was stated earlier by former MTV Networks Asia Pacific president Frank Brown.
In an interview with Indiantelevision.com, he had said, “We are looking at a lot of ideas, including some potential channels for DTH. We are eyeing the launch of new genres of channels. We would like to explore some original channels in India and then probably use it as a test case for launching in other markets.”
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.
