News Broadcasting
NDTV channels to soon go off air on IMCL
MUMBAI: Subscribers of MSO IndusInd Media & Communications Limited (IMCL) will soon not be able to view NDTV channels.
A scroll running on the home page of the MSO warns subscribers that ‘Public notice: NDTV channels namely NDTV 24X7, NDTV Profit, NDTV Goodtimes and NDTV Hindi are liable to be switched off due to non payment.’ If customers want to continue viewing the channels then they can either call up IMCL’s toll free number or send an email.
An executive from NDTV’s distribution team said that the network’s deal with IMCL was up for renewal but the MSO was asking for an exorbitant amount of carriage fees. The broadcaster on the other hand is not willing to give in to the demands.
“IMCL has lost huge ground in Mumbai and some other areas because of digitisation and despite that they are asking for such high carriage fees. They don’t want to negotiate a lower price and neither do we have the intent to pay more. So, most probably we won’t be renewing the deal,” says an executive from the network.
IMCL has approximately 10 lakh set top boxes in Mumbai and the surrounding areas that come under digital addressable system (DAS) I.
Another executive from the network said, “They don’t have value for money. If they want to disconnect, then it’s up to them. If the subscribers want the channel, they will ask for it, if they don’t then also it won’t bother us much.”
IMCL executives were unavailable for comment on the issue.
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.
