News Broadcasting
SC stays Madras HC order on BCCI office bearers
NEW DELHI: The Indian cricket board can function as usual as the Supreme Court today stayed a Madras High Court order restraining office-bearers from taking over the board.
But the apex board also kept cricket board’s past chief Jagmohan Dalmiya on the back foot by restraining him from becoming the board’s patron-in-chief.
A bench, comprising Justices N Santosh Hegde and SB Sinha, felt that prima facie the high court did not act properly by passing the order restraining the newly elected board while entertaining a review petition filed by Netaji Cricket Club (NCC), the petitioner before the high court, agencies reported today.
The Bench noticed skeletons tumbling out of the cupboards as NCC pointed out serious irregularities in the recent elections of the Board and observed that “if we are satisfied, we may order holding of fresh elections for the board.”
After hearing the Board of Control for Cricket in India, Delhi District Cricket Association (DDCA), NCC and DC Agashe, representing the Maharashtra Cricket Association, the bench fixed 26 October for final hearing on the petitions and passed an interim direction staying the Madras High Court order.
Taking into account alleged irregularities in the election of Ranbir Singh Mahendra as the board president and the apprehension that Dalmiya would become patron-in-chief of the board, the Bench said that “in the meanwhile, Dalmiya is restrained from getting elected/appointed as the patron-in-chief.”
The BCCI had filed a Special Leave Petition (SLP) in the Supreme Court on Saturday challenging a Madras HC order restraining newly-elected board officials from functioning and the appointment of Supreme Court judge S Mohan as its interim administrator.
The BCCI in its SLP had contended that if the high court order was implemented, it would bring Indian cricket to a standstill as even selection of the Indian team for the India-Australia series would not be possible.
Meanwhile, Justice Mohan filed a report today in the Madras High Court regarding the “treatment meted out to him” when he had gone to the BCCI office in Mumbai to take charge on Saturday. It may be recalled that when Justice Mohan reached the office on Saturday, he was greeted by a locked door.
“The matter is confidential. But I have filed a factual report,” the Press Trust of India filed from Chennai quoted Justice Mohan as saying.
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.
