News Broadcasting
News Corp’s Fox gets license in Serbia
MUMBAI: Media conglomerate News Corporation has announced that its venture Fox Televizija formed in cooperation with partners in Serbia, has been awarded a national television license in the Republic of Serbia, the larger of the two republics that comprise the country of Serbia and Montenegro.
News Corp. along with its Serbian partners participated in a public tender process that was launched earlier this year by Serbia’s Republic Broadcasting Agency. The Broadcasting Agency’s Council announced the results of the tender process a few days ago.
News Corp. chairman and CEO Rupert Murdoch said, “Serbia’s tender process for the national television licenses was professionally managed from start to finish. This has been one of the most expertly managed international competitive tenders for a national television license in which News Corp. has participated. The Republic Broadcasting Agency should be commended for the fair and transparent process.”
News Corp. and its partners have committed to providing high-quality entertainment and information programming. News Corp. and Fox Televizija will also direct considerable resources into the production of original programming in Serbia. News Corp. will immediately begin the roll-out of the Fox Televizija operation under the management of Mr. Dan Bates, an experienced international television executive.
News Corp’s investment in Serbia builds on the company’s successful European television business highlighted by the highly profitable television station, bTV, in Bulgaria.
News Corp. Europe’s chairman Martin Pompadur said, “Together with our Serbian partners, we are committed to bringing all of the resources necessary to develop a top quality television station. News Corp. will aim to be a valued member of Serbia’s business and media communities.”
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: 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.
