News Broadcasting
Rajesh Devraj quits Sony
MUMBAI: SET’s executive creative director Rajesh Devraj has put in his papers.
The resignation confirms the buzz that has been doing the industry rounds since early October that Devraj was on his way out. This was when veteran writer and filmmaker Venita Coelho joined SET with the brief to work along with Devraj in developing new shows.
When contacted, SET executive vice president Sunil Lulla would only say, “Rajesh had a contract with us which has come to an end.”
Devraj who joined Sony in January this year, says he had been working on a feature film script before joining SET and intends to go back to that now. Devraj has earlier worked with Channel [V], MTV and Hindustan Thompson Associates.
Among the highpoints of his tenure at SET, Devraj counts Jassi Jaissi Koi Nahin, definitely. “It was an enjoyable experience working with the SET team, and talented, intelligent people like Tony and Diya and Victor Acharya. It was equally gratifying that all the decisions we took on the adaptation – the story changes, the casting, the production design, the Punjabi flavour, the characterizations of Jassi and her family – everything connected with the audience as we’d planned. We tried to bring in a freshness lacking on television, and our efforts paid off,” he says of the Jassi experience.
Apart from Jassi, Devraj has also initiated a few projects that he believes are path-breaking in their own way. “I hope they do as well,” he says.
About the learnings he garnered at Sony, Devraj says, “Personally, I’ve learnt a great deal about shaping ideas. The sheer exposure to a large volume of scripts and ideas, the process of interacting with writers every day, all of this has helped sharpen my own creative skills.”
About his tenure at Sony, however, Devraj has a different opinion. “It’s been frustrating, I won’t deny that, but it’s been an incredible learning experience as well. So no regrets.”
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.
