News Broadcasting
TN film body threatens action against stars
CHENNAI: The Tamil Nadu Film Federation is threatening action against actors and actresses who recently appeared on television channels for special festival programmes in violation of a ban instituted a year ago.
The federation had banned film stars from giving interviews or making any appearances on television on the ground that it was adversely affecting revenues at the theatres.
“We have found that when stars appear on television, especially on festive occasions, it affects almost 90 per cent of our revenues,” ndtv.com quoted Selvin Raj, convenor, Film Federation of Tamil Nadu, as saying.
While that appears an exaggeration, producers certainly have a valid point that overexposure of stars on television eats into theatre collections.
“Trailers are not about actors and actresses, they are how the producer publicises the film. There is no necessity for stars to be on TV at all,” actress Khushboo has been quoted as saying.
That this kind of tough talking is not being seen on the Hindi film scene must be a huge relief to the likes of Subhash Chandra’s Zee TV, what with its current programming strategy pivoted around airing of new films.
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.
