News Broadcasting
SC not to interfere in BCCI-DD deal
NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court today in an interim order observed that the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), Prasar Bharati and Sony should keep detailed accounts of the revenue earned through the telecast of the cricket matches.
This also indicates that the court has refused to intervene on the application moved by Zee Telefilms last Friday questioning BCCI’s announcement regarding upcoming cricket fixtures.
According to a statement issued by Zee, the apex court’s ruling has been given “so that if the final decision is in favour of Zee than its commercial interests could be protected on the basis of the revenue accounts filed by the parties.”
Proceedings under Zee’s writ petition continue where the status of BCCI as “State” is being debated presently.
It was on Thursday that the BCCI announced that live feeds would be produced by Ten Sports network for BCCI, while “telecast, distribution and marketing” would be done by Sony Entertainment Network on a “revenue sharing basis”.
The arrangement was done for three events, the India-Autralia four Test series, the India-Pakistan Platinum Jubilee match on 13 November and two-test series between India and South Africa in November-December.
Two days later, following national broadcaster Doordarshan’s threat to go to court, the Indian cricket board chose to go along with DD in place of Sony, thereby ensuring the removal of government interference.
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.
