News Broadcasting
NDTV rubbishes media report questioning ownership
MUMBAI: News broadcaster New Delhi Television Ltd (NDTV) has not just been breaking news lately but has also been making headlines. The company has been asked to answer questions by the stock exchange regarding an article published by Moneylife on 9 June, 2015.
The said article titled “Who Really Owns NDTV” has put the spotlight on the company with the matter even trending on Twitter after the news came out. So much so that it also caught the attention of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), which sought clarification from the publicly listed company on the same.
According to the report by Moneylife, a Mukesh Ambani group entity had taken control of NDTV on the pretext of a loan agreement, way back in 2009.
Speaking to Indiantelevision.com, NDTV executive vice chairperson KVL Narayan Rao refuted all allegations saying, “The promoters, i.e. Dr. Prannoy Roy, Radhika Roy and RRPR Private Limited (“RRPR”), continue to hold the majority shareholding of NDTV, which amounts to 61.45 per cent of the total shareholding of NDTV. There has been no change in the above shareholding since August 2008. Further, Dr. Prannoy Roy and Radhika Roy continue to hold the entire shareholding of RRPR since its incorporation.”
Rao also added that there has been no change in the exercise of voting rights by the promoters with respect to their shareholding in NDTV. According to the records of NDTV, the voting rights in connection with the shares have throughout been exercised by the promoters in the case of Dr. Prannoy Roy, Radhika Roy and RRPR.
“Therefore, NDTV would like to clarify that the allegations raised in the article with respect to a change in the control/ ownership of NDTV are entirely without any merit. NDTV is mindful of its obligations under Clause 36 of the Listing Agreement,” he said.
It may be recalled that just last year Ambani’s Reliance Industries bought over Raghav Bahl’s Network 18 Media and Investments Ltd, which has under its belt TV news channels namely CNBC TV18, CNN-IBN and CNN Awaz amongst a host of other businesses. NDTV, on the other hand, competes with Network 18 with its own bouquet of news channels namely NDTV 24×7, NDTV India and NDTV Profit.
A source from the channel further said, “If NDTV has to take any loan, we have to inform the BSE. We do not give importance to every news piece.”
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.
