News Broadcasting
Raj TV to sing new tune from October, to launch Telugu channel
MUMBAI:Close on the heels of Star’s Vijay TV, which claims to have inched past number two Tamil channel KTV, another regional player, Raj TV, is also sprucing up.
The channel will sport a new logo from 14 October and a new signature tune, along with a set of new programming initiatives. The Raj Television Network is also planning to invest an estimated Rs 1000 million in launching a Telugu channel in March 2003, for which talks are on with venture capitalists. Cinevistaas, AVM and Telephoto Entertainment are among those that are slated to produce new shows for the revamped Raj TV, say media reports.
The channel, that already has over 2000 films in its library is planning to air recent, popular films, a set of which it has acquired recently. While Sun TV has already risen on American screens from this month and Vijay caters to a Tamil block on a UK Sinhalese channel, Raj is also looking to get a toehold in the overseas markets in the UK and US.
The new Telugu channel will however be a news based channel aimed at the rural population as well as women in Andhra Pradesh. Sun’s Gemini and Eenadu’s ETV are the current top contenders in the satellite channel stakes in the state. The new channel will have a new logo, a new name and a fresh infusion of manpower, say reports.
Raj TV, which has teleport facilities in Chennai, will uplink the new channel from the same facility.
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.
