News Broadcasting
Nimbus receives Rs 5.5 billion from 3i, Cisco, Oman Fund
MUMBAI: Nimbus Communications Ltd. has attracted an investment of Rs 5.52 billion (approx $125 million) from 3i, Cisco and Oman Investment Fund (OIF).
This marks 3i’s second round of investment in Nimbus, the entry of OIF into the Indian market and Cisco’s continued strategy to invest across the Indian content industry. 3i had invested $45 million in Nimbus 18 months back.
The investment is in the form of compulsorily convertible bonds that will convert into equity based on a pre-set formula, prior to an IPO or trade sale.
The funds will largely be deployed towards sports rights acquisitions, developing global sports events, financing Indian language and international film production and distribution, developing further digital content production for wireless and VOD/IPTV platforms and expanding the broadcasting operations of the company.
Nimbus was advised in this transaction by London based Euromax Capital and Mumbai based Enam Financial Consultants.
In the last quarter of 2006, Nimbus launched two pay TV sports channels, NEO Sports and NEO Sports Plus, which are exclusively distributed over cable and direct-to-home platforms by Star India.
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.
