News Broadcasting
Nearly four million viewers go interactive for BBC’s Winter Olympics
MUMBAI: UK pubcaster the BBC has anounced that the Winter Olympics is one of BBC Sport’s most watched interactive television applications.
BBC states that 3.99 million digital satellite viewers have accessed the service making it the fourth most used application from BBC Sport compared to Summer Olympics 2004 – 9.0 million, Wimbledon 2005 – 4.4 million and the football World Cup 2002 – 4.0 million.
The Olympics are doing well on BBC Two, with coverage contributing an average audience of 2.2 million, 14.2 per cent share to the channel. Peak audiences so far have been 4.9 million for ice skating on 20 February, 4.5 million for the men’s skeleton, 4.4 million for the figure skating pairs, 4.2 million for the men’s luge, and 4 million for the opening ceremony.
Shelley Rudman’s silver medal for the UK in the women’s skeleton peaked at 3.4 million on 16 February and was the most watched channel at the time for the five minutes of the last few runs.
So far, the audience profile for the Winters is skewing slightly towards females (53 per cent), although share of viewing is slightly higher amongst men. The broadband AV streaming at bbc.co.uk/winterolympics is proving popular with an average of 150,000 page views each weekday.
There were almost as many page views accessed of the AV highlights of Rudman winning skeleton silver the day after it happened as the day itself. The value of on-demand highlights for those that missed it live is further demonstrated by the women’s snowboard cross, with 33,000 page views on Saturday – three times the number from the previous day.
News Broadcasting
WITT Summit 2026 concludes in New Delhi
Babar Azam’s comical diving attempt goes viral as league introduces anti-dew measures.
MUMBAI: The WITT Summit just wrapped up with enough big ideas to fill a policy playbook because when India’s leaders, thinkers and icons gather under one roof, even the conversations hit sixes. The eighth edition of TV9 Network’s flagship What India Thinks Today (WITT) Summit 2026 concluded on Saturday after two days of dynamic discussions at its New Delhi venue. India’s largest multi-domain public policy and culture summit brought together political leaders, policymakers, sports icons, artists and technology innovators to examine the forces shaping contemporary India and its global standing.
Prime minister Narendra Modi delivered the keynote address on the theme “India and the World” for the third consecutive year. In a wide-ranging speech, he addressed the ongoing conflict in West Asia, calling for restraint and compassion while highlighting India’s continued development trajectory despite global turmoil.
The summit featured candid conversations with state leaders. Telangana Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy articulated a people-first governance model and contrasted it with other development approaches. Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Mohan Yadav declared that Left-wing extremism had been effectively eliminated in his state and highlighted preparations for the upcoming Kumbh Mela. Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann defended his government’s record, citing the closure of 19 toll plazas and creation of the Sadak Suraksha Force. Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar expressed confidence in Congress prospects in Assam and addressed recent allegations against him.
On geopolitics and national security, Union Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia outlined India’s ambition to become a builder of trusted digital infrastructure for the world, citing the rapid 5G rollout and village-level 4G connectivity.
Cricket received significant attention. Former India captain Sourav Ganguly praised player freedom and trust as hallmarks of great leadership and named MS Dhoni as the greatest captain due to his World Cup successes. India women’s team bowling coach Aavishkar Salvi credited the BCCI and Women’s Premier League for building a pipeline of world-class talent behind the team’s recent ODI World Cup triumph.
The summit also hosted the inaugural AI² Awards 2026, celebrating the convergence of human creativity and machine intelligence in storytelling and content creation. Poet and kathavachak Kumar Vishwas delivered a nuanced take on India’s concept of Dharma and criticised the recent arrest of an 80-year-old Shankaracharya. Veteran lyricist Sameer Anjaan and storyteller Neelesh Misra reflected on changing music trends and artistic responsibility in the wake of a recent controversy involving Nora Fatehi.
In a country where conversations often run as deep as the Ganges, the WITT Summit proved once again that when leaders, thinkers and storytellers come together, the real winner is public discourse lively, layered and refreshingly unafraid to tackle the big questions shaping India’s tomorrow.
