News Broadcasting
Singer Celine Dion to make appearance on NBC’s show ‘Deal Or No Deal’
MUMBAI: Superstar singer Celine Dion will make a special guest appearance on the special 90-minute season finale of US broadcaster NBC’s reality show Deal or No Deal.
The show raises the stakes as the top prize money increases from one to five million dollars on 5 June. During the finale high school guidance counselor Casey Bell of Temecula, California is the lucky contestant. She will be surprised with a chance to become a millionaire five times over when the new stakes are revealed. Does she have the nerves of steel needed when she is confronted with life-altering financial decisions in a highly pressured environment?
She gets a little help from her family, friends and a surprise guest when she serenades the banker with a song by her all-time favorite musical artist, Celine Dion. Dion joins Bell’s support team live via satellite from Las Vegas and helps Bell during crucial decision making moments when host Howie Mandel asks the all-important question, “deal, or no deal?”
A Deal or No Deal aficionado, Dion watches the show with her family. She says, “Around our house, Deal or No Deal rules! My son Rene-Charles is a very enthusiastic ‘at home’ contestant, and my husband and I are right there with him! It was a thrill for me to participate and give encouragement to the contestant on the show.”
Hosted by Howie Mandel Deal or No Deal sees contestants play for a large cash prize in a high-energy match of nerves, instincts and raw intuition. Each night, the game of odds and chance unfolds when a contestant faces 26 sealed briefcases containing anything from a penny to one million dollars. Without knowing the amount in each briefcase, the contestant picks one — his to keep, if he chooses, until its unsealing at game’s end.
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: 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.
