News Broadcasting
Satellite heads converge at CASBAA forum
The second CASBAA Satellite Industry Forum got underway today at Singapore, with an audience of 200 senior industry professionals from across the world in attendance.
The Cable & Satellite Broadcasting Association of Asia (CASBAA) claims that the issues debated during the CASBAA Satellite Industry Forum are the agenda setters for an Asian market covering three billion people under a footprint running from Japan to the Middle East, from China to Australasia. Issues like new satellite services and new satellite technologies and the financing required, which are to be discussed at the forum, underpin the launch of a dozen satellites into geostationary orbit over Asia over the next five years, each satellite being worth up to US$ 250 million.
CASBAA CEO Simon Twiston Davies says he estimates the speakers, sponsors and delegates collectively represent 85 per cent of the global satellite communications industry, including names like Boeing, AsiaSat, Intelsat and Arianespace.
Keynote speakers at the CASBAA Satellite Industry Forum include chairman of SES Global Romain Bausch, operators of the Astra fleet in Europe and carriers of the BSkyB DTH package, JSAT CEO Takuya Yoshida, New Skies Satellites CEO Dan Goldberg, Boeing Satellite Systems president Randy Brinkley and Arianespace chairman and CEO Jean-Marie Luton.
The Cable & Satellite Broadcasting Association of Asia is the region’s leading non-profit trade organisation for the promotion of multi-channel television and data transmission via cable and satellite networks and represents over 110 Asia-based corporations.
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.
