News Broadcasting
Sarma retires in June; govt. yet to move on replacement
NEW DELHI: Indian pubcaster Prasar Bharati would soon be headless unless the government, too busy with other issues like reservation for backward classes in educational institutions, hurries up.
On 30 June 2006, Prasar Bharati CEO KS Sarma retires after serving an over five-year term that can be easily termed a roller-coaster ride.
Following Sarma to the revolving door – sooner rather than later – is director-general of Doordarshan Navin Kumar whose term as a bureaucrat in Delhi ends in August. After that he has to revert to his parent state of Bihar.
Kumar was appointed as the DG of Doordarshan in February of 2005. Prasar Bharati, an autonomous organization, manages pubcasters DD and All India Radio.
While the CEO of Prasar Bharati is selected by a three-member panel headed by the vice-president of India, the DG is shortlisted by the board of Prasar Bharati that includes the chief executive and chairman.
The present chairman of Prasar Bharati, veteran journalist MV Kamath, was appointed during the tenure of previous government, headed by the right-wing Bharatiya Janata Party.
Prasar Bharati sources said that apart from Sarma and Kumar, there were several other senior officials who are on their way out and would have to be replaced.
Meanwhile Sarma, a veteran of Prasar Bharati (he officiated as the DG of Doordarshan when he was a joint secretary in the I&B ministry in the mid to late 1990s) has seen over five ministers at the information and broadcasting ministry, which controls the purse strings for the publicly funded Prasar Bharati.
Despite allegations of nepotism during a time when DD used to outsource marketing of big events, including the money-spinning cricket matches involving India, a wily Sarma has come out unscathed.
It was during Sarma’s tenure as the CEO that DD floated its subscription-free DTH service, which raced ahead of the country’s first pay TV DTH service, Dish TV, in terms of subscribers.
For the financial year ended march 2006, for the first time Prasar Bharati clocked a gross revenue of Rs 12.38 billion with Doordarshan clocking Rs 9.68 billion and All India Radio 2.7 billion that signified a growth of 67.67 per cent.
Some of the achievements during Sarma’s tenure included the following:
1. Increased focus on pro-active in house marketing of properties.
2. Successful execution of media campaigns on behalf of government departments.
3. Rationalization of rate cards to suit the changing market conditions.
4. A strategic shift from Sponsored Programmes to Self Financing Scheme.
5. Introduction of blockbuster Hindi Feature Films on DD National and marketing them in-house.
6. Leveraging AIR’s vast network and unprecedented reach.
7. Narrowcasting programming strategy.
8. Publicity support for programmes to create awareness, especially among C & S audience.
9. Improved billing and housekeeping efforts.
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.
