News Broadcasting
News broadcasters seek government help to overcome corona crisis
MUMBAI: The News Broadcasters Federation (NBF), the trade organisation that represents the combined interests of the news broadcasting industry on Monday sought the immediate intervention of the central government to overcome the larger economic, social, financial and business impact arising out of the combat measures and lockdown initiatives across the country that threaten the survival of the news television channels.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, during his televised address to the nation, on March 19, equated the news broadcasting sector in line with essential services, is a crucial acknowledgement of the important role of news broadcasters in rendering public service in such a critical situation which the nation is facing currently.
In the memorandum presented to the Prime Ministers’ Office, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, and TRAI etc. the NBF has sought government intervention to combat the financial and business impact on the news broadcasting sector.
To overcome the financial impact, the federation has requested the government to relax and offer tax concessions including lowering GST rates and filing dates, postponing the deadline for TDS payments, for at least a minimum period of three months, until June 30, 2020. The federation has also asked the government to waive off the fees for news channels on DD Freedish platform for March and April 2020. The NBF has also sought extension in deadlines for compliance, since employees handling regulatory issues are currently working from home.
“The NBF strongly stands and supports the Government of India’s proactive measures to combat spread of COVID-19 virus, which has posed a health and economic threat to the country. This extraordinary situation required the government to take extraordinary measures to save the news broadcasting sector that performs a public service for free. Else, we perish,” said NBF President Arnab Goswami.
The news broadcasters are facing slowdown of business operations and severe shortfall revenue as it has curtailed the flow of advertisement which is the largest source of revenue for FTA news broadcasters. The measures have also severely impacted cash flows due to lower collections of payments since clients are also scaled down their business operations. At the same time, the operating costs on connectivity and communications have tremendously increased due to the lockdowns while ensuring the safety of employees.
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.
