News Broadcasting
RTL, Canal+ Group sell their stakes in Sportfive
MUMBAI: RTL Group and Canal+ Group, a subsidiary of Vivendi Universal have concluded an agreement concerning the sale of their interests in sports rights firm Sportfive to Advent International.
The sale is subject to the confirmation of financing and to the approval of the European antitrust authorities. Under the terms of the deal Advent International, a private equity fund, and RTL Group will set up a new company that will purchase all the shares of Sportfive held by RTL Group (46.4 per cent) and Canal+ Group (46.4 per cent).
Advent International is expected to hold 75 per cent of the new company and RTL Group the remaining 25 per cent. Canal+ will withdraw from Sportfive entirely.
Jean-Claude Darmon the founder of Sportfive will continue as its chairman and CEO. Negotiations are proceeding with the acquirers to set the level of the stake that Darmon will hold.
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.
