News Broadcasting
SET-Discovery JV formalised; search on to get more channels on platform
Sony Entertainment Television India (SET India) and Discovery Communications India (DCI) today announced the formation of their joint venture company – SET Discovery Pvt Ltd.
And in a clear indication that Sony was on the lookout to add more channels to the “One Alliance” platform, the official release says SET “would continue to seek opportunities with other channels.”
As a continuance of the close involvement of its parent company in SET India, the JV includes two representatives from Columbia TriStar International Television – Martha Eberts and Michael March (both are also directors in SET India). The other two members of the SET Discovery management team are Kunal Dasgupta (who will be leading the company) and DCI CEO Deepak Shourie.
Shantonu Aditya, currently SET India’s head of the distribution business, will oversee day-to-day operations of the new company which will handle the distribution of both channels and will include ground cable and affiliate businesses.
Announcing the newly formed venture, Aditya said: “With Discovery joining our existing bouquet of channels, The One Alliance partnership, announced earlier this year, is uniquely placed to offer our viewers an enhanced genre of programming supported by our combined distribution strength. We are now strategically positioned to be the No. 1 television network in the country.”
SET India holds 74 per cent of SET Discovery’s equity with the remainder being with DCI. Today’s announcement comes a little over a month after the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) cleared the JV proposal.
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.
