News Broadcasting
Pak cabinet gives licences for 22 TV channels
MUMBAI: Pakistan’s federal cabinet on Monday decided to award TV channel licences to 22 cross-media contenders, overruling the advice of the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (Pemra) for an open bidding, minister for information and broadcasting Sheikh Rashid Ahmed was quoted in India’s not-so-friendly northern neighbour’s media as saying.
Ahmed was quoted as saying the Pakistani cabinet also, “By over-ruling the advice of Pemra for an open bidding, the cabinet has retained its earlier decision that subject to the code of conduct, licences will be issued to cross-media owners,” the minister said. The National Assembly in its new session beginning on July 16 would amend the necessary law for the purpose, the information minister said.
The channels which have been approved for the award of licence are: Kawish TV network (Kawish), TV media network Pvt (Express), Interact Pvt (Khabrain), Sahafat Vision (Sahafat), Dolphin Media (Halchal), Asia News Network (Jinnah), General Newspapers (The Leader), Karachi, Daily Pakistan (Daily Pakistan), Qaumi Akhbar Communication (Qaumi Akhbar), Khyber Broadcasting Services (Akhbar Peshawar), Mehtab Publications (Ausaf, Islamabad), Motherhood, Pakistan’s First Parenting Magazine (Motherhood Magazine), Daily Nawa-i-Waqt (Nawa-i-Waqt), Total Medial Ltd, Islamabad (World Call Group), Recorder TV Network (Business Recorder), Interact Pvt Ltd (Zia Shahid family), Sachal Satellite Communication (already holds FM radio licence), Pakistan Herald Publications (Dawn Group of Newspapers), Development Asia Company (holds an FM radio licence), Total Media Ltd (World Call Group), Independent Newspaper Corporations (Mir Shakeel of Jang Group), and Independent Media Corporation (Mir Ibrahim of Jang).
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.
