News Broadcasting
NDTV seeks uplink permission for 4th news channel
MUMBAI: The big fight in the news space is about to become even bigger. The Prannoy Roy-promoted New Delhi Television (NDTV) Ltd has announced its intentions to launch a fourth news channel.
The big question of course is just what will this channel entail? Indiantelevision.com put the question to NDTV Ltd director Narayan Rao but he would offer nothing in addition to the posting put out today on the Bombay Stock Exchange (on the NSE as well) that stated: “New Delhi Television (NDTV) Ltd has informed BSE that an application has been made to the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting on May 16, 2005 for permission to uplink Company’s 4th Channel i.e. a News Channel.”
A government offcial in the evening confirmed the move in Delhi, saying that since the proposal was sent in yesterday, it’d be too early to give a time frame for its clearance.
“Though we don’t see any problem in NDTV seeking an uplink permission for another channel, the procedure may take its own time,” the official added. On a fast track basis, such a proposal can be processed in 15 days time or could also take up to three months time.
As regards the fourth channel from the NDTV stable, the buzz doing the rounds currently is that it is likely to cover infotainment and news – as in a high dose of lifestyle driven programming (a la Discovery), news and current affairs.
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.
