News Broadcasting
Santa, are you listening?
It’s the season to be jolly. It’s that time of the year when children are told to be on their best behaviour so that Santa Claus showers them with candy, toys and gifts the night before Christmas. However, it isn’t just kids who are busy making merry and wishing that the portly old man with the white beard brings them a sack full of goodies. Grown-ups across ages continue to believe in the sanctity of Father Christmas. A day before Christmas eve, indiantelevision.com asked people associated with the film, television and cable industry what they would most wish for from Santa. Read on to know what they said…
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This Christmas, I would like Santa to gift me a regulation, which will ensure that all government – both state and central – levies are removed. Also, I would like that post digitisation, the revenue share for broadcasters, multi-system operators and local cable operators should be 1/3rd each. Shaji Mathews, COO, GTPL, Hathway |
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I would like carriage fees to be wiped out, subscription revenues to be as per world norms and till such time as that doesn’t happen, for there to be no ad cap. Narayan Rao, executive vice chairperson NDTV and president NBA |
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We want Santa to bring reduction of taxes by the government which currently range between 35 and 40 per cent (note: exemption of Entertainment Tax). Anil Khera, CEO, Videocon D2H |
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This Christmas, I would like clients to use a lot more of video conferencing facilities to enable less travel, more productivity and less fuel usage. As an industry, we need to look at options which not only help us but the world as a whole too. Nandini Dias, CEO, Lodestar UM |
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I want Santa to come with a magic wand this Christmas with a click of which, the marketing of my films is taken care of! I want to concentrate on making good content and don’t want to bother about how the content will reach its buyers/target audience. Santa sir, we are creative souls and not bankers/financiers who have to keep bothering about marketing cost more than telling our stories – please kuchh karo. Yusuf Shaikh, head – distribution, acquisition and IPR management, Percept Picture Company, Percept Limited |
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Rajinikanth once said, ‘If I say it once, I have said it a million times’. So, if I take care of one wish, it will take care of million wishes. I want Santa to be there with me every single day and not once a year. If he will be with me 365 days, he will give me gifts every single day. Divya Radhakrishnan, managing director, Helios Media |
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Christmas is a time to party. I have two wishes from Santa this year, one on a professional level which is that Santa should give some sanity to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), so that they can force the multi-system operators to introduce packaging and complete the process of digital addressability. Also, I would want Santa to gift me tickets to Disneyland, so that I can take my five-year-old daughter there. Sudhish Kumar, executive director , Sagar E Tachnologies |
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I would like better rates from advertisers and inventory from TRAI. Ashok Venkatramani, CEO, MCCS |
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Too many cases of people in the industry engaging in unfair means. Those who indulge in piracy are not nice. Santa should take them to the North Pole and bury them in ice! So be Good and may Santa visit everyone with good fortune, health and happiness…! Pankaj Krishna, founder and CEO, Chrome Data Analytics & Media |
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I wish Santa could give me some professionals at the top level to help upgrade Doordarshan. Jawhar Sircar, CEO, Prasar Bharati |
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.
