News Broadcasting
Star gets FIPB approval for new channels, share transfer
MUMBAI: The Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) has approved a proposal by Star Group to invest in the country to start and create new non-news channels, which in all probability, would be niche channels for the direct-to-home (DTH) platform.
FIPB has also approved share transfer from Indian shareholders to others in companies through which Star proposes to undertake other initiatives.
“The commercial feasibility of creating channels in India has been matched by the liberalisation in foreign investment norms relating to the sector, which now makes it possible for a foreign investor to invest wholly in an Indian company to undertake activities of owning and uplinking a TV channel in India,” the Star application with the FIPB had stated.
However, FIPB’s approval will have to be ratified by the finance ministry before Star can go ahead with its proposed activities.
In its application to FIPB, Star had said that for its newer activities, it proposes to use three companies in India, which have already been incorporated. The need for separate companies was driven by the fact that the nature of content in the (proposed) channels is distinct and this necessitates different skill sets and facilities, which can be more “efficiently housed in different entities.”
The three companies sought to be used by Star are Touch Tele Content India Pvt Ltd (TTCL), PPV Movies & Content Pvt Ltd (PMCPL) and Star Games Development Company Pvt Ltd (SGDPL). Star’s holding in the last two companies would be held by a Mauritius based group company, Star ISP Ltd.
In addition to the investment into fresh equity of PMCPL and SGDPL, Star ISP Ltd will also purchase the existing shares from the current shareholders of the investee company, which were in the process of seeking clearance from the information and broadcasting ministry for uplinking channels from India.
Touch Tele is presently engaged in providing support services to other media companies. PPV Movies and Star Games Development were recently incorporated as companies.
The Star application also stated that amongst the many benefits accruing from this proposal will be investments made in India to create “world class infrastructure related to channel creation that is, on-air promotion, playout (facilities), delivery, etc.”
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.
