News Broadcasting
Vinod Dua to head all Sahara news operations
NEW DELHI: In a swift and major reshuffle of work responsibilities, the Subrata Roy-promoted diversified Sahara India group has brought in ace TV personality Vinod Dua as a consultant and co-ordinator of all proposed news operations, including the various state-specific news channels.
The independent heads of the proposed news channels like Prabhat Dabral, Arup Ghosh and Rajiv Bajaj will now report to Dua who, according to company sources, will also be co-ordinating the financial and other aspects of the up and coming news channels. Dua, in turn, will report to the promoter family and Sumit Roy, in particular, who is the head of Sahara groups entire media and entertainment activities.
Confirming the move, when contacted, Dua told indiantelevision.com, “Yes, I have been entrusted with co-ordinating the work and putting in place the infrastructure for the seven (proposed) news channels at least.”
However, Dua also added that “it was an honorary post” which is the reason as to why he would not like to specify any designation.
Though Dua insisted that his was an honorary responsibility, TV industry sources indicated that he will receive a hefty remuneration packet which equals the pay packet of any other CEO of media companies like Zee Telefilms.
The changes that were effected on Monday were the result of a meeting on Saturday in Lucknow of the bigwigs from Sahara group.
Though the exact reason for the move to bring in Dua over Ghosh, Dabral and Bajaj, effectively curtailing the powers of the three up to a certain extent, is not immediately known, but Sahara insiders indicate that there was resentment amongst the employees of Sahara over the functioning style of the various channel heads.
A source went to the extent of saying that “differences also existed between various channel heads” who had powers to recruit too.
While Dabral, a former Doordarshan reporter, is the head of news channels meant for Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Bihar, Ghosh, a former NDTV star anchor, is the head of the proposed national channel. Bajaj, a former print medium journalist, is the head for the Mumbai news channel.
Dua — one of the first products of Indian television news along with Prannoy Roy during the good old days of Doordarshan — in recent times has been doing news and current affairs (N&CA) shows for Sahara channel which, at present, is a mish-mash of entertainment and N&CA programming.
The three channels which are expected to first get off the block from the Sahara stable early next year (Republic Day, 26 January?) include the Sahara Samay UP, Sahara Samay Mumbai and Sahara Samay national.
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.
