News Broadcasting
Sony to run old DD mytho in afternoon band
MUMBAI: Om Namah Shivay , a mythological series that had a two year-run on national broadcaster Doordarshan’s main DD1 channel, is taking a bow on Sony Entertainment Television in the afternoon band
Starting Monday, the series, which wound up on DD1 after completing 208 episodes, will air weekdays Mondays through to Fridays from 2:30 pm to 3:30 pm.
The strategy of pitching a one-hour mythological in a daily slot is certainly something new and it remains to be seen how the “ubiquitous Indian housewife” responds to this one-hour daily dose of television religosity.
“Om Namah Shivay is a different programme aimed to strengthen the channel’s afternoon slot , which is currently dominated by family soaps and sagas,” SET channel head Sunil Lulla is quoted as saying in an official release.
The series is based on Lord Shiva and “depicts the spirituality, divinity and the moving power with which Lord Shiva governs the destiny of the universe”, the release says.
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.
