News Broadcasting
NBF seeks clarity from BARC in TRP manipulation case
NEW DELHI: In a fresh turn of events in the TRP manipulation scam, News Broadcasters Federation (NBF) has sought clarification from the Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) over the way the matter is being handled by the Mumbai police.
Last evening, NBF vice-president and Prag News CEO Sanjive Narain questioned the regulator on-air while speaking to Republic TV CEO and editor-in-chief Arnab Goswami on his show. He said, “The country deserves to know the structure of BARC and people who are running it. They are answerable not just to Republic TV but also 70-80 other news channels that they are monitoring. They have to come out with an open statement regarding the case.”
Further, he lambasted the Maharashtra government and the Mumbai police for their investigation in the case. He also raised questions on the legal stance on the dual-frequency issue as well.
“Running on dual-frequency was never a criminal offence and it still is not. No one can run their channels directly. They have to pay the carriage fee to the MSO. The MSO is the decision-maker. In case, if there was a TRAI regulation regarding this, you must be questioning the MSOs.”
He added that it seemed like the actions of the law enforcement authorities is a clear case of vendetta against the promoters of Republic Media.
Additionally, Twenty Four chief editor Sreekandan Nair pointed out that the matter of rigging ratings must be handled by either TRAI or BARC, and not by the Mumbai police.
The Republic has been caught in the eye of a storm after the Mumbai police publicly claimed to have unearthed a TRP manipulation racket in the city back in October. Since then, the channel's employees and members of the core management have been called in for questioning. 12 arrests have been made in the case, the latest being that of Republic CEO Vikas Khanchandani. The NBF had issued a statement calling Khanchandani's arrest and two-day remand in police custody "highly disturbing."
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.
