News Broadcasting
Prasar Bharati chief urges DD channels to innovate
MUMBAI: Prasar Bharati chief executive K.S. Sarma has asked the pubcaster’s regional channels to come up with innovative concepts. Speaking at the inauguration of DD Sahyadri’s third Navratna awards in Mumbai on 14 April, Sarma praised DD Mumbai’s initiative around the awards, urging other kendra’s to institute regional awards too.
DD’s Sahyadri Navaratna Awards recognise the efforts of Maharashtra-originating individuals in nine spheres, right from singing to business to dance etc.
In his speech, Sarma appreciated the efforts of DD Sahyadri director Mukesh Sharma in conceiving and making the Navratna Awards a success. (DD Sahyadri and Indiantelevision.com had jointly worked on the first Sahyadri awards).
“Mumbai Dordarshan has been unique in organising such an event. Other channels from the Prasar Bharati bouquet should also try their hand at doing something like this”, he said.
One of the 25 regional channels of Prasar Bharati, DD Sahyadri is the only one with no free slot in its 18 hours per day schedule, he pointed out.
Sarma admitted that commercial pressures were increasingly impacting the pubcaster, but it was standing firm in its basic mandate of being a public service.
Said he:”Although Prasar Bharati is getting commercialised to survive, we will always have the public’s benefit at the back of our mind as the first priority. We will provide the advertisers subsidised rates for their ad space”.
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.
