News Broadcasting
NDTV seeks uplink OK for business news channel
MUMBAI: The “dry run” has proved a success. Now Dr Prannoy Roy’s New Delhi Television Ltd is plunging the whole hog into the business news space. NDTV today made an application to the information and broadcasting ministry for uplinking permission for a business news channel.
Attempts by indiantelevision.com to contact senior executives in NDTV regarding the developments proved futile till the time of filing this report. However, industry sources aver that NDTV’s business channel is expected to start beaming within the next three to six months.
While speculation has been rife in the industry for a while now that NDTV was seriously considering launching a business news channel, what might well have clinched the issue is the success NDTV 24×7’s new programming initiative “9-4 Business & News” has enjoyed. With “9-4 Business & News”, almost the whole day part of NDTV 24×7 is devoted to business related news and talk shows. With the rave response that this slot got, NDTV 24×7 asserts it is now neck and neck with market leader CNBC -TV18.
Information available with indiantelevision.com indicates that the NDTV business channel’s differentiating pitch will be that it covers a far wider canvas than the focus on stock markets that CNBC-TV18 is still perceived as having.
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.
