News Broadcasting
BBC Worldwide reaches the Middle East on three major platforms
MUMBAI: UK pubcaster The BBC’s commercial arm BBC Worldwide has announced that two channels, BBC Prime and BBC Food, are now successfully established on three key media platforms in the Middle East. The announcement was made at the Gulf News Ideal Home Show in Dubai.
Entertainment channel BBC Prime is available to audiences on the Orbit Satellite Television and Radio Network across the entire region, and via cable, on E-Vision in the UAE. Orbit, which positions itself as the world’s first fully digital, multi-channel and multi lingual pay television platform, owns and broadcasts on 33 television channels and 20 music radio stations to the Middle East and North Africa, while E-Vision is the only cable TV provider in the UAE.
BBC Prime’s presence on these two platforms is essential for the success and growth of the channels in the region. The channel delivers the best of British entertainment. Highlights for the new season include live coverage of the Bafta awards, the dramas Canterbury Tales and A Thing Called Love and comedies like Little Britain and The Kumars at No. 42.
BBC Food launched on Showtime. BBC Food brings viewers hot tips from celebrity chefs, including All The Queens Cooks and Saturday Kitchen’s Antony Worrall Thompson and Lesley Waters on Ready Steady Cook, and plenty of gourmet dishes and exotic flavours to tempt the taste buds from around the globe.
BBC Worldwide director of channels Wayne Dunsford said, “The successful relationships we have cemented with Orbit, E-Vision and Showtime, demonstrate a commitment to broadcasting quality, BBC content in the region. We are delighted to be working with the leading networks in the Middle East, and are proud to bring all four media players together at the Gulf News Ideal Home Show.”
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.
