News Broadcasting
Sahara TV switching to digital 10 December
MUMBAI: Free-to-air Hindi general entertainment channel Sahara TV is going digital from Tuesday, 10 December. Sahara has also set up its own multiple channel digital uplink earth station at Noida with both playout and uplinking facility.
The digital feed will be available on transponder 10-V of AsiaSat 3S from 10 December from 7 pm onwards.
With the digitalisation as well as uplinking facilities in place, the stage looks to be set for the launch of Sahara’s proposed bouquet of news channels, including one national and 30 city-based news channels, in early 2003. While Sahara officials were not forthcoming on a launch date, it could well be 26 January 2003 – Republic Day. This would also fit in well with the nationalistic image that the Subrata Roy-promoted group is strong on.
Sahara TV head Sumit Roy was quoted in an official release as saying: “The preparation work is already done. We have already commenced our analogue services on transponder 10-V and 1-V of AsiaSat 3S in order to facilitate switchover by our sanchar saathis (cable operators).”
While the channel will be switching to digital on 10 December, the analogue feed will continue on transponder 1-V during the seeding of digital receiver boxes. Sahara plans to continue with the simultaneous telecast of digital and analogue feeds for a month after 10 December.
All playout and uplink for both digital and analogue services of Sahara TV now originates from Noida, with infrastructure comprising high-end digital encoding equipment with statistical multiplexing in MCPC (Multiple Channel Per Carrier) domain,
Digital Feed Technical Specifications
Mode: Free to Air
Satellite : Asia Sat 3S
Orbital Location : 105.5
Downlink Frequency : 4020 Mhz
Polarisation : Vertical
Orbital Location : 105.5
FEC :
Symbol rate : 27.25M-SYM/SEC
Analogue Feed Technical Specifications
Downlink Frequency: 3660Mhz
Polarisation : Vertical
Audio Sub-carrier: 6.3 Mhz
Information about the digital receiver boxes for cable operators is available at the following numbers:
Mumbai : 022-56901310
Delhi : 011-23704100
Kolkata : 033-22827137
Bangalore : 080- 5321640
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.
