News Broadcasting
AXN claims crossing 30 million subscription mark for Asia
With just under three months to go before it officially turns 5, action-adventure channel AXN states it now has over 30 million subscriber households in Asia.
Recent launches on Malaysia’s ASTRO and Pakistan’s Leo Communications platforms, and significant subscription increases in key Asian markets, have contributed to the network’s robust growth in Asia. Include China, where it is seen in 40 million households on day-part basis, and AXN Asia’s regional distribution is over 70 million, a company release says.
“Cable television viewers and cable operators across Asia know that for the best in action-adventure programming, there is only one choice – AXN,” said Todd Miller, AXN’s managing director. “The buzz, which first came to Asia in the thick of the economic crisis in 1997, is now a resounding beat that’s sounded across the region.”
Launched on 21 September 1997, AXN – a Columbia Tristar International Television / Sony Pictures Entertainment channel – has experienced a steady upward momentum in regional distribution, making it one of the widest distributed and fastest growing regional cable and satellite channels in Asia, the release says.
“AXN’s brand awareness has grown from strength to strength, with an undeniable shift in the perception of AXN amongst viewers, key decision makers and media planners” said Miller. “Recent events like the Hong Kong AXN Challenge, the Nokia Urban Challenge, the Action Movie Festivals, and the annual Anime Festivals have attracted hundreds of thousands of viewers from across the region, giving them the opportunity to live the attitudinally 20-something AXN lifestyle, while our programs are now subjects of regular water cooler conversations.”
Miller also explained that the channel’s growth was boosted by its burgeoning on-air and production capabilities, which now give viewers and advertisers more localised content, promos and vignettes. Last year’s original Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon promos took home the Promax and BDA Asia 2001’s Silver award for Funniest Spot, while locally-produced channel promos – depicting people who ‘get the buzz’ – will be launched next week Asia-wide on AXN’s three feeds.
“For AXN, the arrow points only one way – upwards,” concluded Miller.
News Broadcasting
CNN-News18 to air live counting day coverage for five state election results on May 4
The channel is rolling out its biggest election coverage machinery yet for results day on 4th May
NOIDA: The votes have been cast. Now comes the reckoning. CNN-News18 is pulling out all the stops for results day on 4th May, when counting begins across five battleground states — West Bengal, Assam, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and the Union Territory of Puducherry — in what promises to be one of the most closely watched electoral verdicts in recent memory.
The channel’s coverage, titled Battle for the States: The Verdict, kicks off at 7am and runs through the day across linear TV, connected television and YouTube. It is the culmination of CNN-News18’s multi-format editorial initiative, Battle for the States, which has tracked the polls from the beginning under the theme Road to Power.
At the operational heart of the coverage will be the Live Results Hub, the channel’s central command centre built to collate, verify and process real-time data flowing in from reporters stationed at counting centres across constituencies. The hub combines newsroom intelligence, analytics and on-the-ground reporting to deliver what the channel promises will be the fastest and most accurate results coverage in English news.
Leading the on-air charge will be primetime anchors Rahul Shivshankar, Anand Narasimhan, Aman Sharma, Nabila Jamal and Shivani Gupta. They will be joined by a wide panel of commentators including author Chetan Bhagat; GVL Narasimha Rao, senior leader of the BJP; Smita Prakash, editor of ANI; activist Saira Shah Halim; political analyst Sumanth C Raman; Abhijit Iyer Mitra, senior fellow at IPCS; Amitabh Tiwari, founder of VoteVibe; columnist Abhijit Majumdar; Nalin Mehta, managing editor of MoneyControl; political analyst Tehseen Poonawalla; senior journalist Subir Bhaumik; and political analyst Manojit Mandal.
Shivshankar, who serves as editorial affairs director at CNN-News18, set out the stakes plainly. “Counting day is one of the most watched events in the electoral cycle, where speed and credibility are tested in real time,” he said. “Battle for the States: The Verdict is built on that promise, combining ground reporting, sharp analysis and cutting-edge election technology to give viewers the clearest and fastest route to the verdict. On May 4, CNN-News18 will once again be the nation’s most trusted channel to witness democracy in action.”
Smriti Mehra, chief executive of English and Business News at Network18, framed the coverage in broader terms. “Elections are defining national events, and audiences turn to brands they trust in moments that matter,” she said. “CNN-News18 has consistently led from the front in every election coverage, and this special programming reflects the scale of our ambition and editorial strength.”
The channel has form here. It claims to have been India’s most preferred English news destination for election results for the past 20 years, covering everything from the 2024 general elections to the Delhi, Maharashtra, Bihar and BMC polls on the back of what it calls an “Always First, Always Right” record. Five states, one day, and a nation waiting for answers. The clock starts at 7am on 4th May.
