News Broadcasting
Rs 940 million FDI application in Hindustan times cleared
NEW DEHI: The Indian government today approved 57 foreign direct investment (FDI) proposals worth more than Rs 6.3 billion, including increase in foreign equity in Hindustan Times Media and restructuring of Hutchison Max in India.
The FDI applications, amounting to Rs 6339.8 million to be exact, were okayed by the finance ministry on the recommendations of the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) in its meeting held on 25 October, 2004.
Hindustan Times case relates to Henderson Asia Pacific Equity Partners of the UK upping its stake in an HT joint venture company, HT Media Ltd, to 26 per cent from 19.23 per cent. Henderson is making the investments through its affiliate HPC (Mauritius) Ltd.
This approval would bring into the joint venture company, set up to undertake a variety of activities, including those related to the Internet, radio and TV, an additional sum of Rs 940 million.
At one time it was being speculated that it would be this joint venture company that would launch HT’s Mumbai edition.
Meanwhile, the government okayed restructuring of Hutchison Telecommunications (India) Ltd, Mauritius and Hutchison Max Telecom Private Ltd.
The proposal involves consolidation of equity by Hutchison Max Telecom Private Limited in its Indian telecom companies by way of acquisition of entire domestic and foreign shareholding and in lieu of issuing its shares.
The proposed restructuring had been pending a government nod for quite some time now and would pave the way for an IPO of Hutch. This particular case was taken up by the FIPB on 27 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.
