News Broadcasting
World Stunt Awards move from AXN to Star Movies
MUMBAI: One of the ways in which Star Movies is looking at differentiating itself from the competition is through special events like award shows.
It will air this years edition of the World Stunt Awards on 1 August at 9 pm.
The show used to previously air on AXN. Speaking to Indiantelevision.com this morning Sony’s assistant VP marketing Rohit Bhandari who looks after AXN in India said, ” We took the decision last year not to renew the license.
“In terms of popularity it was not doing well despite our efforts to build up the brand. The return that we got on our investment was limited. It does not have the huge cachet of the Oscar Awards (also air on Star Movies). Not many Indians are aware of the fact that there is an award show that recognises stunt work.”
Bhandari pointed out that the broadcaster had opted to concentrate on larger properties like World Rally Championship (WRC). “Three years ago when we started The Amazing Race we discontinued Survivor. Our strategy has always been to move on by looking at the next hot thing. However apart from the World Stunt Awards all the other other properties are continuing. Fear Factor and The Amazing Race have just entered new seasons.”
As far as promoting WRC is concerned Bhandari stated that while the channel had tied up with a few auto magazines to get across the message the strategy for the first year is to simply let the property sink in among the viewers.
Coming back to the World Stunt Awards on Star Movies viewers can see Keanu Reeves getting the award for best action movie star. In addition veteran stunt professional Ronnie Rondell, whose work has contributed to films including Speed and Thelma & Louise, has been chosen by the World Stunt Association to receive the Lifetime Achievement Award. Carmen Electra will co-host the show alongside regular Dennis Hopper.
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.
