News Broadcasting
Star donates US$1.1 million to UNICEF’s Tsunami Fund
MUMBAI: Unicef has received a donation of US$1.1 million (HK$8.6 million) from Star for its tsunami recovery projects in Sri Lanka and Indonesia. The donation will address the educational, developmental and health care needs of the children affected by the Indian Ocean tsunami.
The donation cheque was presented by Star CEO Michelle Guthrie to Dr Robert Fung, chairman of the Hong Kong Committee of Unicef, and Charlie Young, ambassador of Hong Kong Committee for Unicef. At the event, Young also shared her experience of her visit to Sri Lanka shortly after the Indian Ocean tsunami, informs an official release.
Disaster relief funds from around the world have been instrumental in providing children and families in Sri Lanka and Indonesia with basic necessities after the tsunami destroyed their ways of life in December 2004. Today, children are still depending on assistance in the areas of education, development and health care.
In order to address these, US$550,000 of Star’s donation will be used for the School Reconstruction Programme in Ampara, Sri Lanka and US$560,000 for the Comprehensive Early Childhood Development and Health Care Provision Programme for children in Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam (Aceh) Province, Indonesia, the release further adds.
Says Guthrie, “We are honoured that today’s donation will play a part in helping children in two of the worst hit areas to gradually put their traumas behind them. Our sincere hope is that by working together with Unicef through their tsunami recovery projects, the children will be able to lead fulfilling lives and look towards a brighter future.”
Fung adds, “With the generous support of Star, I am sure that Unicef’s recovery projects in Sri Lanka and Indonesia will be very successful, achieving Unicef’s aim to help affected countries to ‘Build Back Better’”.
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.
