News Broadcasting
Philip Fleming to head communications for BBC Worldwide’s home ent. biz
MUMBAI: UK pubcaster the BBC’s commercial arm BBC Worldwide has appointed Philip Fleming as head of communications for its home entertainment business.
Home entertainment incorporates Worldwide’s Children’s and Licensing department (responsible for the global exploitation of brands such as Doctor Who and In the Night Garden) and its audio and music department which comprises of BBC Audio Books, record and track licensing, radio and TV programme sales, and music publishing.
Fleming will also oversee communications for the company’s joint ventures including 2Entertain (DVD), Ebury (books), Ragdoll Worldwide (the management of Ragdoll Productions Ltd’s back catalogue) and Penguin (Children’s books).
He joins the Home Entertainment team from BBC Magazines, where he has been head of communications since 2004. During his time at BBC Magazines he steered public relations for over 40 titles, including Radio Times, Top Gear, Olive and CBeebies Weekly and popular websites such as radiotimes.com, bbcgoodfood.com and topgear.com.
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.
