News Broadcasting
Walt Disney, Univision mull English news channel
MUMBAI: In an effort to keep pace with changing demographics among US Hispanics and reach a new audience of English speakers, Walt Disney Company is mulling with the idea of teaming up with Univision, the dominant Spanish-language broadcaster in the US, to launch an English-language cable news channel this year.
The new channel could combine the resources of Disney’s ABC News and Univision’s news division to rival established news entities like Fox News Channel, MSNBC and CNN.
If the idea fructifies, the partnership could create a new name in cable news to compete with Fox News, CNN and MSNBC, the audiences of which have become more defined by their politics than ethnic origin.
The joint venture would allow ABC News and Univision to share newsgathering costs in the way that is practiced by NBC News and MSNBC.
Disney‘s ownership of ESPN Sports Network puts it as the strongest negotiating content company with cable and satellite operators. The Disney association would give the new channel a big advantage as it seeks distribution.
News of the talks between ABC and Univision was first reported by the Wall Street Journal after News Corp announced plans for a general interest free-to-air Spanish-language television network in partnership with RCN Television Group, the Colombian broadcaster.
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.
