News Broadcasting
TRP scam investigating Mumbai cop Sachin Vaze arrested
MUMBAI: Mumbai police’s assistant inspector Sachin Vaze was arrested by the National Investigating Agency last evening. There are allegations that he played a part in the conspiracy which saw an explosive-laden vehicle found parked near billionaire Mukesh Ambani’s Antila residence in south Mumbai last month. The central agency interrogated the celebrity cop for 12 hours before placing him under arrest. He was the lead investigator in the same case before it was transferred to the Mumbai police’s Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) and later to the NIA.
A Thane-based auto parts dealer Mansukh Hiran had claimed ownership of the abandoned vehicle, informing the cops that it had been stolen a week earlier. Later, his body was found in a marshy area in Mumbai on 5 March. Hiran’s wife Vimla had pointed the finger at Vaze, alleging he had a hand to play in the murder and that he had taken possession of her husband’s car in November, which he then returned in early February and it had been stolen thereafter.
Questions are being asked about the impact Vaze’s arrest will have on the future course of the alleged TRP scam that he was spearheading. In fact, it was he who picked up Republic TV promoter and editor-in-chief Arnab Goswami from his home a few months ago. The case has seen several arrests including former BARC CEO Partho Dasgupta, and charge sheets had been filed against Republic CEO Vikas Khanchandani, and former BARC COO Romil Ramgarhia earlier this year in January.
Goswami has all along alleged that the entire TRP controversy has been raked up by the Maharashtra government in cahoots with the Mumbai police in an act of vendetta against him and his channel, because they were investigating what they claim was a botched up investigation into actor Sushant Singh Rajput’s death
A senior media professional on the condition of anonymity stated that with Vaze’s arrest and alleged implication in the explosives case, the credibility of the TRP manipulation investigation can definitely be questioned.
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.
