News Broadcasting
TV 18 announces Rs 200 mn rights issue
Mumbai: Television Eighteen India Ltd (TV18) has announced its offering of a rights issue of Rs 200 million in the ratio of one rights share for every 12 held. The price band for the proposed right issue will be in the range of Rs 150-180. The company will be using the money to finance its broadcast expansion plans.
The company informed that its board of directors has also decided to implement the TV18 Employees Stock Option Plan, 2004 and TV18 Employees Stock Purchase Plan, 2004.
The TV 18 Board also reviewed the implementation of its ongoing expansion project. The inaugural phase of this project – the new state-of-the-art 40,000 sq ft broadcast facility, is coming up rapidly at Mumbai, said TV 18.
Commenting on the developments, TV 18 managing director Raghav Bahl is quoted in media reports as saying, “We are delighted at the continuing strong financial performance of CNBC-TV18, which has resulted in better-than-expected internal accruals, thereby lowering the amount of dilution required in the Rights Offering. We remain confident that the current expansion of our infrastructure will significantly upgrade the quality of CNBC-TV18, our existing channel. It will also allow us to launch new broadcast properties and enhance shareholders’ value.
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.
