The XIIth BCS Ratna Award 2026 concluded successfully on August 5, 2026, at New Delhi, celebrating excellence across India’s broadcasting, cable TV, digital media, OTT, entertainment and technology sectors. The annual awards recognised leading media organisations, broadcasters, content platforms and industry professionals for their outstanding achievements and contributions during 2025-26.

The ceremony was attended by several eminent dignitaries from the government and media industry. Rajya Sabha MP Sasmit Patra and Vijay Goel, Vice Chairman of the Gandhi Smriti and Darshan Samiti, attended the event as the Chief Guests. Dr. Deepali Sharma, Advisor (Broadcasting & Cable Services), TRAI, graced the ceremony as the Special Guest, while former Rajya Sabha MP Dr. Anil Agarwal attended as the Guest of Honour.

The awards recognised excellence across news broadcasting, general entertainment, sports, digital media, cable distribution, OTT platforms and leadership, honouring organisations and individuals who have made significant contributions to the Indian media and broadcasting industry.

News, Entertainment & OTT Awardees
• Sanskar TV – Best Religious Channel of the Year
• GTC Punjabi – Best Debut Punjabi Regional Channel of the Year
• NDTV – Best On-Ground Coverage of the Year (Operation Sindoor)
• GTPL Infinity – Fastest Growing HITS Network of the Year
• KEE OTT – Best Hybrid Entertainment Platform (South)
• Unite8 Sports – Best Debut Sports Channel of the Year
• COLORS – Best GEC Channel for Non-Fiction Entertainment
• Playbox TV – Best OTT Aggregator of the Year
• ‘Wheel of Fortune’ – Most Iconic Show with the Most Iconic Star
• Zee – Best Integrated Content Distribution Strategy of the Year
• Sports Magic DEN – Best Original Sports Cable Programming
• Sports Magic – Hathway – Best Original Sports Cable Programming
• GTPL – Widest Channels Variety Provider of the Year
• Star Sports – Most Effective Campaign for Category Development Enhancing Consumer Experience (TATA IPL)
• ‘Ganga Mai Ki Betiyan’ (Zee TV) – Best Hindi GEC Show of the Year
• Dish TV – Best Converged Entertainment Platform of the Year
• Star Plus – Best GEC Channel for Fiction Entertainment
• GTC News – Best Debut Regional News Channel of the Year
• Samsung TV Plus – Best CTV Platform of the Year
• Live Times – Fastest Emerging Hindi News Channel of the Year
• NDTV Ctrl Alt Defence – Best Podcast Show of the Year
• News18 India – Most Watched News Channel on YouTube
• News18 India – Best Hindi News Channel of the Year
• NDTV 24×7 – Best English News Channel of the Year
• NDTV – Best Election Coverage – West Bengal
• NDTV – Best News App of the Year
• Zee News – Most Trusted Hindi News Channel of the Year
• Zee News – Best Coverage of the Delhi Bomb Blast
• Zee News – Best Newsroom of the Year
• Times Now – Best Coverage – Air India Flight Crash
• Times Now – Best Election Coverage – Bihar
• Times Now Navbharat – Most Popular News Channel of the Year
• Salaam TV – Most Impactful Urdu Channel of the Year
• Dangal TV – Most Viewed Entertainment Channel of the Year

Individual Honours
• Sudhir Chaudhary – News Icon of the Year (2025-26)
• ‘Decode With Sudhir Chaudhary’ – Most Watched Prime Time News Show on Digital (2025-26)
• Rahul Sinha – Most Impactful Hindi News Editor
• Syed Suhail – Best Prime Time Anchor of the Year
• Pratyush Khare – Best Anchor of the Year (Debate)
• Vasudha Venugopal – Best Female Anchor (English)
• Manoj Tyagi – Outstanding Contribution to Spiritual & Devotional Broadcasting
• Kevin Vaz (JioStar) – Visionary Leader of the Year
• Ashish Sehgal – Industry Maverick of the Year
• KanakSinh Rana – Influential Personality of Broadcasting & Cable TV Industry
• Avinash Pandey – Most Versatile Personality of the Industry
• Anurradha Prasad – Women Media Entrepreneur of the Year
• Anil Malhotra – Torchbearer of Indian Media & Broadcasting Industry
• K. Aravamudhan (JioStar) – Lifetime Achievement Award
• Jayesh Thakkar – Philanthropist of the Year (2025-26)
• Sandeep Bhardwaj – Outstanding Contribution to the Broadcasting & Cable TV Industry
• Sanjay Roy – Outstanding Contribution to the Broadcasting & Cable TV Industry
• Krishan Arora – Outstanding Contribution to the Broadcasting & Cable TV Industry
• Hemlata Sharma – Outstanding Contribution to the Broadcasting & Cable TV Industry

Distribution & Technology Awardees
• GTPL Hathway Ltd. – Best MSO of the Year
• KCCL – Best Performing Regional MSO (South)
• UCN Cable Network Pvt. Ltd. – Best Performing Regional MSO (West)
• ICNCL – Best Performing Regional MSO (East)
• KVBL – Fastest Growing ISP of the Year (South)
• ONEOTT iNTERTAINMENT Ltd. – Best Future Ready Network of the Year
• Sony Pictures Networks Distribution Team – Trade Connect Excellence Award
• Zee – Most Popular Broadcaster of the Year

The XIIth BCS Ratna Awards 2026 were supported by several leading organisations from the media and broadcasting industry. JioStar partnered as the Title Partner, while Zee joined as the Powered By Partner. GTPL, Kerala Vision Digital TV, and Kerala Vision Broadband were the Co-Powered By Partners. Sony Pictures, Dangal TV, UCN, and Vzy by DishTV came on board as the Associate Partners, while Playbox TV, Sanskar TV, Digiana, GTC Network, Fastway, and KhabarFast supported the event as the Supported By Partners. Aavishkar Magazine and Aavishkar Darpan were the Print Media Partners, Indian Broadcasting World (IBW) served as the Digital Partner, and the event was organised in association with the All India Aavishkar Dish Antenna Sangh and the Media Club of India.

The XIIth BCS Ratna Award 2026 reaffirmed its position as one of the country’s leading media industry honours by recognising excellence, innovation and leadership across broadcasting, digital media, OTT, cable TV and technology, while celebrating the achievements of organisations and professionals shaping India’s media landscape.