News Broadcasting
Rakesh Chaudhry launches sitcom and travel show for DD Metro
Veteran TV producer Rakesh Chaudhry, creator of trend setting TV serials including Bante Bigadte, Chunauti and Mujrim Haazir, is now ready with his latest offerings – a sitcom, Aisa Bhi Hota Hai and a travel show Raj Travels Duniya Ki Sair Kar Lo.
Both serials will go on air shortly on DD Metro. While Aisa Bhi Hota Hai is to be telecast every Wednesday at 7:30 pm, Raj Travels Duniya Ki Sair Kar Lo will be telecast every Saturday at 9 pm with a repeat telecast on Sunday at 10 am.
At a time when producers are fleeing DD, what makes Rakesh loyally patronize it? “Well, at least I retain the rights of re-telecast of these serials elsewhere. In any case, buying a slot on DD Metro is not as expensive as it is on DD and with our able in-house marketing team, we do hope to recover our investments and make profits,” he says.
Ashok Patole, who has scripted Shriman Shrimati for DD Metro. The sitcom revolves around Sinha (Dilip Prabhavalkar), a retired man, his wife (Shubha Khote), son Vikram (Prashant Damle), Vikram’s wife Shyamal (Tanaaz Currim), Sinha’s two daughters Shaila( Kishori Ambiye) and Pinky (Suchitra). Vikram and Shyamal work in the same office where the boss, Advani ( Ajit Vacchani) is always chasing Shyamal. It’s always either Advani or some invited guest landing in the Sinha home creating unforeseen and humorous situations.
Raj Travels Duniya Ki Sair Kar Lo is an international travel show, interwoven with popular songs in the form of a countdown. The show introduces a new hostess Parinita Seth and is directed by Shadab A Khan. If the first episode that features Singapore is anything to go by, the show appears to be high on quality, rich in content and supplemented by high production values.
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.
