News Broadcasting
V6 challenges suspension; BARC to place facts before court
MUMBAI: V6 News, from the stable of the Telugu channel popular across Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, also wants to challenge Broadcast Audience Research Council India (BARC India) after the latter suspended its ratings review for some weeks along with other two channels on 24 November, 2016.
BARC India, the only television audience measurement body in India, had temporarily suspended the review of viewership of three news channels. BARC communicated to all the broadcasters that ratings for India News, TV9 Telugu and V6 News were suspended owing to suspected mala fide practices.
Media buying and planning (advertising) agencies and brands had reacted strongly or cautiously when it came to commenting on famous yet delinquent channels. Dentsu Aegis chairman Ashish Bhasin had lauded the BARC decision: “It is a bold step taken by BARC to name and shame the mischievous entities.” It sends out a warning message to the channels to behave, and will act as a deterrent for other possible mischief-mongers that could spoil the purity of the currency for a Rs 20000 crore annual TV advertising business in India, Bhasin said.
However, the Bombay High Court on 6 December stayed the suspension of ratings review of India News even as BARC hinted at continuing its crusade. Describing the suspension of India News ratings as ‘arbitrary and illegal’, the court stated that the suspension and subsequent communication to all the subscribers has prima-facie been seen as a reputation-maligning action, a press release from India News stated. India News CEO Varun Kohli said, “India News is a credible news channel in the broadcasting business in the country and has grown consistently in the last four years both in the times of BARC ratings and TAM ratings, the predecessor of BARC.”
Reacting to the judgement, BARC India CEO Partho Dasgupta said: “We will continue to act as per our board and government guidelines, with the objective of providing the Indian broadcast industry with an accurate, robust and reliable television audience measurement system.”
Players in the news eco-system meantime saw an overall decline in the ratings, according to BARC week 48. Since the court stay, observers have been wondering whether other two erring and suspended yet holier-than-thou channels would also knock at the doors of the courts of law seeking redressal.
“We have filed a suit against the suspension of V6 review by BARC India,” V6 CEO Ravi Ankam communicated to Indiantelevision.com through the chief technical officer Kishore Kumar late yesterday evening. However, Ankam did not reveal the details, saying the “matter was sub-judice.”
When contacted for its comment on V6 News decision, BARC India was prompt in its curt reply. “We will place the facts in (the) court. At this stage, as the matters are sub-judice, it would not be appropriate for us to say anything more. We are confident of what we are doing,” the ratings body CEO said.
TV9 Telugu shied from reacting or commenting on BARC India action or the court stay. TV9 head of marketing Clifford Pereira passed on the responsibility of speaking to the media to the chief financial officer KVN Murthy. When Indiantelevision.com contacted CFO Murthy, he sought time as he was driving out of town for a private meeting, and then chose not to respond to calls or text messages.
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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.
