News Broadcasting
BBC invites Time Warner, Disney, Bertelsmann for BBC Worldwide sale
MUMBAI: The BBC is looking to sell its commercial sales and publishing division BBC Worlwide. For this purpose it has invited bids from Time Warner, Disney and Germany’s Bertelsmann.
A report in The Financial Times has indicated that executives from the three parties will to hold talks with the BBC in the coming weeks.
Assets up for grabs include the BBC America and BBC Prime channels, along with 26 magazine titles, merchandising operations and the broadcaster’s overseas programme sales unit.
However BBC DG Mark Thompson has played down the likelihood of BBC Worldwide being privatised. “We are looking at BBC Worldwide with open minds. But it is not a foregone conclusion that we are talking about large-scale sell-offs” Thompson said in an interview published in the Independent.
The question that arises as regards India is how the sale will affect the deal that BBC Worldwide hatched earlier this year with The Times Of India Group.
The 50:50 JV that had been announced in April was to produce and market magazines from both companies in India. However in a recent interview with Indiantelevision.com Times Group.president Arun Arora said that the deal was awaiting government clearance.
As far as the proposed sale is concerned it is being considered as part of an internal review following the fallout from last year’s Hutton inquiry report. BBC executives believe that the Worldwide division could be worth up to $3.55 billion. BBC Worldwide employs 2,200 people. The sale could result in layoffs.
News Broadcasting
News18 India to air Sabse Bada Dangal on 4 May counting day
Channel promises fastest results, live trends and analysis across five states.
MUMBAI: Ballots will do the talking and screens will do the shouting. As counting day approaches for high-stakes Assembly elections across West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Assam and Puducherry, News18 India is gearing up for an all-day broadcast of its flagship election show, Sabse Bada Dangal, on 4 May from 6 am onwards. The Hindi news channel plans to deliver continuous, real-time updates as votes are tallied, combining live counting data with on-ground reporting and studio analysis. With political fortunes set to shift through the day, the coverage will track every swing, surge and surprise as trends turn into results.
The broadcast will feature a mix of senior political leaders, analysts and experts, offering instant reactions and decoding the evolving electoral picture. Expect heated debates, quick takes and detailed breakdowns as the numbers settle across all five states.
For News18 India, counting day has long been a high-visibility moment. The network is banking on its reporting reach, editorial bandwidth and technology-driven coverage to stay ahead in what is often a fiercely competitive news cycle.
With multiple battlegrounds and shifting narratives, the day promises both drama and data in equal measure. And if all goes to plan, Sabse Bada Dangal will once again turn the counting of votes into prime-time spectacle.
