News Broadcasting
Popular Asian channels in UK go free for Aug as war heats up for viewership
MUMBAI: It looks like an all out war has broken out among UK’s most prominent Asian TV channels for the viewership pie.
In a bid to increase market share, the three entertainment channels Sony Asia, B4U Movies and Zee Cinema have announced their decision to go free for a short while.
According to media reports, both Sony Entertainment Television Asia and B4U Movies are running one-month promotional campaign by offering free subscription to the non-subscribers . The offer, however, is open to Sky Digital subscribers only. The subscribers will need to call the network’s subscription hotline to activate the freeview.
Sony entertainment Television Asia can be viewed on EPG 802, B4U Movies on 800 and Zee Cinema on 810, inform the reports.
Zee Cinema will be totally free from 13 August to 15 August, say the reports. The channel is being offered free to all non-subscribers and there is no need to call anyone to activate the service.
In addition to one month free subscription on request, B4U Movies will be turning free-to-air from 26 August to 30 August to celebrate the completion of being on air in August end.
B4U broadcasts B4U Movies and B4U Music in the UK, while SET Asia broadcasts its flagship channel Sony.
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.
