News Broadcasting
Prasar Bharati looks for exclusive OTT partner to bring ‘Swaraj’ to global audience
Mumbai: Prasar Bharati has invited applications from OTT platforms for the exclusive global licence for its programme Swaraj for three-years. The bidding process will be done via e-auction.
The public broadcaster set the reserve price for 75-episode Hindi programme at Rs 26.25 crore plus GST. Any incremental bid beyond the reserve price must be Rs 5 lakh and multiples thereof. The last date for submission for the applications is 4 August.
Produced by Contiloe Pictures, the series was announced by minister of information and broadcasting (MIB) Anurag Thakur on 25 July and is scheduled to telecast on Doordarshan network on 14 August on the eve of India’s 75th year of independence.
The programme commissioned by Prasar Bharati is focused on the unsung heroes and battles of India’s independence all across the country. Originally produced in Hindi, the series will also be dubbed in English and nine other languages including Marathi, Odia, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Kannada, Bengali, Assamese and Gujarati.
On winning the bid for the programme, the OTT platform shall be authorised to upload and store the series on its server for the purpose of transmitting the programme to audiences via the OTT platform, either free of cost or behind the paywall, as per the terms and conditions of the licence agreement.
Each episode of the programme will be available on the OTT platform after 48 hours of its first telecast on Doordarshan network.
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: 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.
