News Broadcasting
Prasar Bharati launches content acquisition portal
Mumbai: Public broadcaster Prasar Bharati on Thursday announced that it has launched a content acquisition Portal to enable ease of doing business in the process of online content acquisition.
In its 158th meeting held on 15 November 2019, the board of Prasar Bharati had approved an online content acquisition policy for off the shelf content, in a bid to ensure transparency, accountability and ease of doing business in the process of content acquisition.
According to the policy, the pubcaster intends to procure ready-made TV content (Hindi) on a license basis for its various analogue and digital channels and platforms. The content will be procured for multiple telecasts over multiple channels across DD networks and digital platforms. Rights would be acquired for a period of one year, three years or perpetually.
The rights holders who wish to offer their content are required to get registered on the Prasar Bharati content acquisition portal by 31 October.
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.
