News Broadcasting
Paramount debuts films on iTunes
MUMBAI: Paramount Pictures has announced the debut of hit movies on the online iTunes Store.
From this month, movie fans will be able to choose from over 100 movies from Paramount Pictures, Paramount Classics, MTV Films, and Nickelodeon Movies. Titles from Paramount Vantage will be available later in the year.
The titles and genres includes comedies such as School of Rock and Zoolander, action-thrillers such as A Sum of All Fears and The Italian Job, classics such as Chinatown and Breakfast at Tiffany’s and science-fiction favorites such as the first six Star Trek movies. These movies are available for purchase and download for $9.99 and can be viewed on a computer or fifth generation iPod.
Paramount chairman and CEO Brad Grey says, “Paramount is excited to offer hit movies on the iTunes Store. We think iTunes customers are going to love the wide range of titles to choose from, and we look forward to partnering with Apple to make more great Paramount content available in the future.”
Apple CEO Steve Jobs says, “We’re thrilled to add these hit movies and classic titles from Paramount to the growing iTunes movie library. iTunes is the largest online video store in the world with over 1.3 million movies sold to date.”
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.
