News Broadcasting
Prasar Bharati CEO Sarma elected ABU vice-president
NEW DELHI: Prasar Bharati CEO KS Sarma has been elected vice-president of the Asia Pacific Broadcasting Union (ABU) for a three-year term. Sarma was elected for the post un-opposed at the 39th general assembly of the ABU, which opened in Tokyo yesterday.
Sarma’s election underlines the importance of India’s role in shaping the future of public service broadcasting in the world’s fastest developing Asia-Pacific region, according to a Prasar Bharati press release.
Gemstar CEO Henry Yuen resigned last month after an accounting review by the board’s audit committee, and last week the company fired its accounting firm, KPMG LLP.
The ABU is made up of 100 broadcasters from 49 nations and territories of the Asia and Pacific region. It provides a platform for cooperation in the field of news and programme exchange, acquisition of broadcast rights, training and technical consultancy.
National broadcaster Doordarshan and All India Radio are among the most active members of the ABU, the release says.
The focus of the 39th General Assembly in Tokyo is on the role of broadcasting in the 21st century and how broadcasting can solve such global issues such as education and environment. More than 400 delegates are attending the current ABU general assembly.
Prasar Bharati is being represented by Sarma, director general Doordarshan Dr SY Quraishi and Doordarshan engineer-in-chief RK Gupta.
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.
