News Broadcasting
TV producer Chanana launches Media Factory
MUMBAI: Former actor and TV show producer Aashish Chanana has launched his company Media Factory to focus on producing five ‘crossover’ feature films every year.
While addressing the media and invited guests – which included TV industry personalities – Media Factory MD Chanana said: “Media Factory represents the new face of the Indian film industry that is geared to spearhead a radical departure from traditional cinema. The five films will be aimed at a broad audience both in India and abroad.” Also present on the occasion were BMG Crescendo head Suresh Thomas and Media factory chairman Dr Charanjit Chanana (former member of parliament).
The following is the list of the five films to be produced: Dreams, Mission Bangkok, Namaste America, Bombay Times and an unnamed one. Chanana added the budget of the movies is tentatively Rs 20-30 million each.
Media Factory has forged alliances with experts who will look after various aspects of film marketing, publicity, distribution and promotion. Ad major Lowe’s Lintentertainment will be the marketing arm for providing the requisite support. Lintertainment head Gitanjali Kirloskar said: “It’s a pleasure associating with Media Factory. We look forward to create a revolution in the entertainment industry.”
Chairman Dr Charanjit Chanana added that the company is focussed on achieving cost savings while increasing production quality, by applying some the risk-free business techniques and technology development techniques in filmmaking.
When asked about TV serials, Chanana said: “I have just finished a telefilm Shoharat. However, Media Factory will concentrate on making films for the big screen. The shooting for the first film, Dreams, will start on in mid September and it should be released by February 2004. Some members of my team will continue to do advertising, corporate films and TV shows but I shall concentrate on the film projects.”
Chanana started his career as an actor with a lead role in mainstream feature films. He has produced 1,000 hours of TV software. He produced, directed and acted in Cine Communication centre’s telefilm Tasveer opposite Moon Moon Sen which was aired on Doordarshan. He has done TV shows for Doordarshan (Star Show and Ek Mulakat), Zee (Shooting Shooting), Dubai TV (Action Bollywood), Mauritius TV-MBC (Popcorn) His fully integrated state of the art post production has been in existence since a decade.
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.
