News Broadcasting
Sun TV sets IPO price band at Rs 730-875
MUMBAI: Sun TV has fixed the price band of its initial public offering (IPO) at Rs 730 to 875 per share. The issue will open for subscription on 3 April and close on 7 April.
The company aims to raise Rs 6.03 billion at the top end of the price band. Sun TV will offer a fresh equity issue of 68,89,000 equity shares of Rs 10 each for cash, to be made entirely through the book building route.
The issue will constitute 10 per cent of the fully diluted post issue paid-up capital of the company. Following the issue, the shareholding of Sun TV Ltd principal promoter Kalanithi Maran will reduce to 89.99 per cent from 99.99 per cent (61,999,969 shares).
The company has mandated Kotak Mahindra Capital Company and DSP Merril Lynch for the issue. The proceeds of the issue will be used to beef up its subsidiaries, launch more television channels and construct its own corporate office. Investments will also be made in setting up studio facilities and up-linking infrastructure, purchasing new equipment and upgrading the existing ones.
Sun TV Ltd is part of the Sun Network, which runs 14 TV channels, four FM Radio stations, two daily newspapers and four magazines. Sun TV Ltd comprises four Tamil channels — Sun TV, Sun Music, KTV and Sun News — and two Malayalam channels — Surya TV and Kiran TV.
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.
