News Broadcasting
B4U Multimedia spins off new company B4U Broadband, seeks global alliances
B4U Multimedia International has spun off a new company B4U Broadband, which will be the vehicle for the company’s broadband plans.
B4U CEO Ravi Gupta made the point clear while clarifying that B4U Multimedia International had not been wound up as reported in the press due to its association with arrested film financier Bharat Shah, a key promoter in the company.
Gupta, however, admitted that one reason for the creation of the company was because national broadcaster Doordarshan was reluctant to continue an association with a company part promoted by a man with alleged links to the underworld.
B4U Broadband will continue to provide the latest blockbusters to DD as per our earlier arrangement,” Gupta confirmed.
Queried whether the Bharat Shah episode had hurt the channel, Gupta said actually revenues in January were better than previous months. “AS to whether they would have been even better without the arrest episode is speculative,” Gupta added.
B4U Broadband will be the vehicle for a number of projects, including DTH, which the company is aggressively pushing through in the coming year, Gupta said. “For the DTH project we have calculated an outlay of Rs 5 billion and we are in talks with various prospective partners. We have to obviously keep in mind the government’s insistence on the 20 per cent sectoral cap as well as foreign equity cap but we are seriously going ahead,” Gupta said.
As to what other plans were on the anvil, Gupta said B4U was going ahead with plans for content delivery via the internet. He however ruled out B4U’s getting into optic fibre cabling on its own. “We will be looking at collaborations with players providing such services”, Gupta said.
“We are also looking at global alliances and towards that end we are in serious talks with British Telecom,” Gupta said.
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.
