News Broadcasting
Tara Marathi to shift uplinking to VSNL teleport in two weeks
MUMBAI: Tara Marathi, the channel from the Broadcast Worldwide bouquet, is moving its teleport to Mumbai in the next two weeks.
The channel, which is being managed by production house Eternal Dreams, will commence uplinking from the VSNL teleport in Mumbai, according to Eternal Dream COO Bonnie Jain. The channel is currently being uplinked from Bangkok on the Shin Satellite Network’s teleport. The move is aimed to coincide with the second phase of the channel’s relaunch in mid September, says Jain.
Tara Marathi, which has moved into the reckoning once again after being in the wilderness for nearly two years, had flagged off its relaunch in April this year with a distance education programme in cooking and baking. The success of the programme prompted the channel to launch the same show in Hindi during prime time, taking on soaps and comedies in that time band.
The second phase of relaunch will focus on a celebrity talk show, Lakshaat Theva to be anchored by well known comedian Laxmikant Berde, who makes his television debut with the programme, says Jain. The other shows launched by Tara earlier this year, Atmakatha (biographical sketches of celebrities) and Abhimaan Maharashtracha (focusing on young Maharahtrian achievers) and Chehre (interviews conducted by well known photographer Gautam Rajadhyaksha) are also scheduled for a revamp during the second phase.
The channel is likely to remain off air for the duration the uplinking transition from Bangkok to Mumbai takes place. According to Jain, Tara Marathi, along with ESPN, was the only channel to uplink through a server, he said.
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.
