News Broadcasting
Murdoch gets support from Saudi prince lifting News Corp voting stake
MUMBAI: Media moghul Rupert Murdoch was given a boost in his battle to retain control over his media empire after a long-time supporter billionaire Saudi prince Alwaleed bin Talal increased his voting stake in News Corp.
Media reports indicate that Talal has bought a 5.46 per cent voting stake in News Corp after selling the three per cent non-voting stake previously held by his investment company Kingdom. News Corp is said to be looking to protect itself against a possible takeover bid from Liberty Media. John Malone’s conglomerate has already increased its stake in News Corp. to 18 per cent. This prompted Murdoch to implement a poison pill provision.
According to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission the Prince beneficially owns 56.2 million News Corp. Class B common shares. The prince has said that he acquired the Class B common stock for investment and currently supports the efforts of the board and management and expects to vote his Class B shares in support of Murdoch.
In the filing the Prince has stated that he will buy more voting shares if the situation warrants it. The Murdoch family own close to 30 per cent of News Corp’s voting stock Meanwhile Murdoch has summoned his most senior executives for the second summit in seven months on News Corp’s internet strategy. The broadcasting and publishing group’s executive committee will gather this weekend near Murdoch’s ranch in California.
Murdoch spent $580 million on buying Intermix, which operates social networking site My-Space.com, and bought Scout Media, a sports website company.
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.
