News Broadcasting
SabeTV to air Benazir interview tonight on Line of Fire
It's time for Sabe TV to make some noise. The reason: it is the first amongst the Indian channels to get a one-on-one with ex-Pakistan prime minister Benazir Bhutto, who is on an India visit. And the anchor to manage that coup: Karan Thapar on Line of Fire, which is produced by UTV.
So thrilled is SabeTV about this journalistic coup that it has changed the show's time slot from weekend to tonight at 10:45 PM Today's episode of Kissa Khursi ka (10:45 pm) will be given the go-by.
The show will bring forth Bhutto's views on war torn Afghanistan and her stand on political issues, choices and compulsions that have come to play in the region post 11 September and the war against terror being waged by the coalition.
According to a SabeTV spokesperson the show promises to be interesting with Bhutto crediting herself as being "The Mother of the Taliban". She explains that she was a strict mother to the Talibanis, until the reins were snatched from her hands, after which the Taliban regime went out of Pakistan's control.
She also speaks of the sacrifices she had to make for Pakistan's sake and her desire to lead the country once again.
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: 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.
