News Broadcasting
Sahyadri launches morning telecast block
MUMBAI: It’s an indicator of DD Sahyadri’s continued popularity.
The channel, rated one of the best Doordarshan regional channels, has commenced a half hour morning telecast since 2 October, the day it turned 30. The terrestrial telecast block, from 9 to 9:30 am, consists of live phone in shows from Monday to Friday.
According to Sahyadri programming head Shivaji Phulsundar, an educational talk show with phone ins will be aired on Mondays and Thursdays. Hello Doctor, a show on health with expert panels addressing viewer queries, has been re-scheduled from its earlier Sunday slot to Wednesdays. Ghatnachakra, a phone in show on current affairs, has been rescheduled from its Saturday slot to make it a twice weekly on Tuesdays and Fridays.
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.
