News Broadcasting
VH1 enters Asia with 24-hour channel in Thailand
MUMBAI: VH1, the more mature offspring of MTV Networks, takes its first tentative step in Asia with a debut in Asia this month.
VH1 will appear in Thailand as a 24-hour channel on UBC’s Channel 50 and daily programme belts on MTV Southeast Asia and MTV Philippines, with an estimated reach of over 17 million households. Does the long pending entry of VH1 in the East spell an imminent entry into India too? The network has been scotching talk of the channel’s entry in India for over a year, saying the timing was not right just now.
But with conditional access now almost a reality, it would not be far fetched to presume that while MTV (which has till date resisted the temptation of being lured into a bouquet) remains free to air, VH1 may launch as a pay channel on the lines of Fashion TV which has announced its intention of maintaining two versions in India post CAS – one, a watered down FTA version and a raunchier pay channel.
VH1 in Thailand, meanwhile, will provide premier music television content targeting 25 to 44-year-olds. MTV on the other hand is a youth oriented channel, more irreverent, experimental, even a trifle louder than its older sibling. According to MTV Networks Asia senior vice-president network development Richard Cunningham, VH1 captures the MTV graduates and in Thailand will focus on the international music scene, bringing the Asia-wide audience a total music and entertainment experience.
On MTV Southeast Asia and MTV Philippines, VH1’s weekday programming belts are at 11 am and 11 pm, titled Heaven at Eleven, in which viewers will be treated to non stop music videos reflecting a daily theme like VH1 Soul and VH1 Rock. On weekends, shows like Behind the Music will feature true life stories that shake the world of rock n roll, including interviews with key players in the music industry like Bon Jovi, Sting, Cyndi Lauper and Red Hot Chilli Peppers. Other weekend specials include VH1 News Special, VH1 Divas Live and the VH1 Vogue Fashion Awards.
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.
