News Broadcasting
Star News line up to encash on cricket mania
MUMBAI: Star News is all set to cash in on the Indo-Pak cricket mania with its special show on the India-Pak series called Wah! Cricket starting Thursday, 11 March 2004.
STAR News has lined up reportage and analysis of the historic Indo Pak series. The channel has roped in Pakistan’s ace-bowler and former captain Wasim Akram to speculate the results of the day’s game, comment on and discuss the teams’ performances along with former Indian cricketer Sandeep Patil who will be the STAR News resident expert for this show.
The line up includes two shows at 7:30 pm and 10:30 pm with Rameez Hasan Raja, former Pakistan captain and currently chief executive of the Pakistan Cricket Board presenting his analysis and comments of the day’s game.
A live Q&A section on Wah! Cricket will give viewers across the country a chance to direct their questions to STAR News’ resident expert Sandeep Patil. Viewers can also call in with their queries on the match and the India-Pak series.
To add to the cricket fever, ace-mimic Suresh Menon will present the day’s happenings in his original and entertaining style in Silly Point.
The programme will also show first-hand interviews with the common people on the street in both India and Pakistan as they scrutinise how the series will help in improving relations between India and Pakistan.
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.
