News Broadcasting
BBC, HBO’s to co-produce 12 hour epic series ‘Rome’
MUMBAI: After co-producing the television miniseries Band of Brothers; HBO and BBC have come together once again for a multimillion pound co-production series. This time round, the two are planning a 12 hour epic series titled Rome.
According to a report in The Guardian, Rome will be an epic dramatisation of the events leading to Julius Caesar’s murder by Brutus, and will focus on the creation of the ancient Roman Empire.
The series will be shown in the US and on BBC2 in the UK in 2005. Ciaran Hinds will play Julius Caesar and Lindsay Duncan will play Servilia (Caesar’s mistress and mother of Brutus) in Rome.
Prior to this, HBO, which is responsible for hit series such as Sex and the City, Six Feet Under and The Sopranos, has worked with the BBC on the critically acclaimed Band of Brothers. The series was a rage abroad although in India it wasn’t able to make as much of an impression.
According to the report, BBC is hoping that Rome will ignite audiences’ interest in all things Roman in the same way as its 1976 drama I Claudius caught viewers’ imagination.
Buzz is that if the first series of Rome which will be broadcast in 2005, is a success, two more could follow.
The Guardian reported that the series will use the latest computer-generated imagery to follow the key events within the Roman Empire from 51BC, such as Julius Caesar’s conquest of Gaul as seen from the perspective of two Roman soldiers, Lucius Vorenus and Titus Pullo.
Filmed on location across Europe and north Africa, Rome will also take in the rise and fall of Mark Antony and Cleopatra.
News Broadcasting
Times Network to air JVC Exit Poll across 5 regions on April 29
Four-hour broadcast spans states and Puducherry with data-led analysis
MUMBAI: Times Network is set to roll out what it calls one of its most expansive election programming efforts yet, culminating in the JVC Exit Poll on 29 April, with a multi-hour broadcast spanning key poll-bound regions.
The exit poll will air across Times Now and Times Now Navbharat, beginning at 5pm and 4pm respectively. Co-powered by Vedanta and Jindal Stainless, the programming aims to combine on-ground reportage with data-driven projections across West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Assam and Puducherry.
The network has deployed over 50 journalists across these regions, gathering voter sentiment and local insights in the run-up to polling. The effort builds on its ongoing election formats such as Election Yatra and Election Premier League, which have tracked campaign narratives and community-level issues.
In parallel, Times Now Navbharat has focused on constituency-level reporting in West Bengal through its Jan Gan ka Mann series, capturing voter opinions across diverse segments.
The coverage has also featured interviews with prominent political leaders. Kerala chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan and Congress leaders Ramesh Chennithala and V D Satheesan have appeared on the network’s election specials. From Tamil Nadu, voices including deputy chief minister Udhayanidhi Stalin, DMK MP Dayanidhi Maran, BJP leader K Annamalai and NTK’s Seeman have also featured in discussions.
On the day of the exit poll, the network’s primetime anchors, including Navika Kumar, Zakka Jacob and Sumit Awasthi, will lead the coverage. They will be joined by a panel of political analysts, psephologists and senior journalists offering real-time insights and interpretation of trends.
The programming will integrate grassroots reportage with analytics from the JVC Exit Poll, aiming to give viewers an early sense of electoral outcomes ahead of the official results on 4 May.
With its combined English and Hindi broadcast reach, Times Network is positioning this effort as a comprehensive look at voter sentiment, blending field reporting, data and debate to decode what could lie ahead when the final mandate is revealed.
