News Broadcasting
Prasar Bharati invites applications for vacant MPEG-2 DD Free Dish slots
Mumbai: Prasar Bharati has invited applications for vacant MPEG-2 slots on free DTH platform DD Free Dish in the 58th e-auction process. The slots will be allowed for the period between 1 April and 31 March 2023, and the e-auction will be tentatively held from 7 March.
The public broadcaster has categorised different language/genre channels into six buckets and published their starting reserve price for the bidding process.
Starting reserve price/annum for Hindi GECs (bucket A+) is Rs 15 crore, while Hindi movie channels (bucket A) will have to start the bid at Rs 12 crore. Hindi, English, and Punjabi news and current affairs channels (bucket C) will have to bid starting at Rs seven crore.
For bucket B comprising all Hindi music and sports channels, Bhojpuri GECs and movies and Hindi teleshopping channels, the starting reserve price is Rs 10 crore. For all other remaining genre (language) channels in bucket D and devotional (spiritual/AAYUSH channels) in bucket R1 the starting reserve price is Rs six crore and three crore, respectively.
Only satellite channels licensed by the MIB can take part in the e-auction. Only companies holding valid permission from the ministry or their authorised distributor partners can apply for participation.
In case the applicant company is other than the licensee, the document/agreement signed between the license-holder company and the applicant company authorising the applicant/bidder for distribution of the channel and bidding on behalf of the licensee must be submitted.
International public broadcasters licensed by the MIB can also participate in the e-auction.
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.
