News Broadcasting
TRAI to host OHD on 10 December for new DTH licences
MUMBAI: The direct-to-home (DTH) players can now put their viewpoints on issues related to new DTH licences. The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has called for an open house discussion (OHD) on 10 December at Ghalib Seminar Hall, Ghalib Institute Aiwan-e-Ghalib Marg, New Delhi for stakeholders to meet the regulator and present their viewpoints on the consultation paper and the supplementary consultation paper released earlier by TRAI.
The regulator had earlier on 1 October issued a consultation paper on extension of DTH licences. The TRAI had later on 14 November also issued a supplementary consultation paper, which sort to get views of the industry stakeholders on the comprehensive review of the provisions in the existing DTH guidelines.
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.
