News Broadcasting
NDTV gets slapped with higher tax dues notice
MUMBAI: NDTV India’s tax woes continue. The news network which has been under the taxman’s scanner, received another order from the department raising the alleged tax dues from it. The income tax department had issued an order earlier this year claiming Rs 47.27 crore in unpaid taxes on an investment by Fuse + Media Holding (in the assessment year 2007-2008), calling it a sham transaction. On 20 September, NDTV received a revised order from the tax folks saying that it had mistakenly under-computed tax to the tune of Rs 12.71 crore under section 234 B for a lesser period for the same financial year and transaction.
Hence, the dues claimable by the tax department stand enhanced by that amount, it says.
NDTV today informed the Bombay stock exchange about this development but added that it strongly believes that the Order under section 147/143(3) is untenable and misconceived and it has already filed an appeal against it before Commissioner of Income Tax (Appeals).
Moreover, the company says it believes that even the tax demand after the revised order will go down substantially since it had already won the appeal in the ITAT against the original assessment order (“original prder”), effect of which is yet to be given by the department, pending official receipt of the original order from the ITAT.
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.
