News Broadcasting
No action against CBS CEO Les Moonves yet on sexual misconduct allegation
MUMBAI: US Network CBS has not yet taken any legal action against CEO Leslie Moonves as its board of directors investigates claims of sexual misconduct against the media titan. On Monday, the company board meeting said that it is in the process of selecting outside counsel to conduct an independent investigation.
The New Yorker recently released an expose detailing sexual misconduct which was claimed from half a dozen women against Moonves. The allegations come as CBS is at the centre of a very public legal dispute with Shari Redstone and her National Amusements for control of the company. It was a decision by the board to force Moonves to take a leave of absence. Meanwhile, the investigation is being viewed as a win for Redstone who is trying to merge CBS and Viacom.
CBS ad sales chief Jo Ann Ross expressed her support for Moonves on Twitter last week, “My experience with him on a professional and personal basis has never had any hint of the behaviour this story refers to,” Ross said on Twitter on Friday night in response to The New Yorker article, which includes sexual misconduct allegations against Moonves by six women, including actress Illeana Douglas.
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.
