News Broadcasting
Nepal lifts ban on Indian news channels
MUMBAI: The Nepalese government has lifted the ban on Indian news channels. The government took the decision in a cabinet meeting held on 8 June and the order was activated on 12 June.
Following the order, cable networks have now switched on news channels including Aaj Tak, Star News and Zee News.
The ban was imposed after the 1 February royal takeover by King Gyanendra. Apart from firing the government, the King had suspended civil liberties, blocked the country’s communication systems including internet and telephone and barred cable operators from airing Indian news channels. But the ban hadn’t affected international news channels including the BBC and CNN.
The King had justified his action by stating that the move was to crush an anti-monarchy Maoist revolt which has claimed almost 12,000 lives since 1996. Though India had appealed King Gyanendra to re-consider his decision earlier, it dropped the demand during a meeting between the King and prime minister Manmohan Singh in Jakarta in April.
Though the Nepal government’s decision comes as a relief for Indian news channels, another neighboring country Bhutan is still continuing its apathy towards Indian media. Last month, the Bhutan government had blocked some of the Indian news and regional channels on grounds that they have a “bad social and cultural” influence on its citizens. Networks including Aaj Tak and Sun are affected by the ban.
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.
