News Broadcasting
Cold War returns to CNN
MUMBAI: CNN has announced the return of acclaimed series COLD WAR, the critical exploration of the nearly half-century long military and ideological conflict between the United States and the Soviet Union. In a year which marks the 25th anniversary of a landmark event in history – the fall of the Berlin Wall – airing from January on CNN International, COLD WAR takes viewers on a journey through the most dramatic moments in modern history, revealing how these events changed the face of Europe and continue to define our world today. The series of 24 episodes will airs every other Saturday at 1630 & Sunday at 730, January 4 through October 26, then each subsequent Saturday, November 1 and 8 at 1630 & Sunday, November 2 and 9 at 730 IST
“COLD WAR is an epic series that captures the dynamics of one of the most important eras of recent times,” said Mike McCarthy, senior vice president of programming for CNN International. “We are thrilled to offer viewers one of CNN’s most comprehensive and informative productions, in the year that marks the 25th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall.”
Spanning 24 one-hour episodes, COLD WAR begins with the rise of the Iron Curtain and follows the flash points and global confrontations leading up to the fall of the Berlin Wall and the eventual collapse of the Soviet Union. More than 500 eyewitnesses and participants contributed to this historical narrative including a number of world leaders and notable figures like Mikhail Gorbachev, George H.W. Bush, Fidel Castro, Henry Kissinger, Robert McNamara, Sergei Khrushchev, Pierre Salinger, Eugene McCarthy and Jimmy Carter.
Online at www.cnn.com/coldwar users will be able to watch videos from the series as well as view iconic Cold War speeches. The page will also include articles about how the world has changed following the turbulent times in the second half of the twentieth century, and what issues still resonate in the present day.
COLD WAR is narrated by Kenneth Branagh and executive produced by award-winning filmmaker Jeremy Isaacs and former CNN executive Pat Mitchell.
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: 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.
