News Broadcasting
Bidders pitch for French global news channel
MUMBAI : This is an initiative that aims at putting a European spin on news and currents affairs happenings. French media companies have submitted bids for the creation of an international television news channel. For a year now the country’s President Jacques Chirac has been keen on providing people with a French-flavoured alternative to the two global news giants CNN, BBC World .
The Iraq war saw BBC and CNN gain huge ground in terms of viewership across the globe. France along with Germany strongly opposed the war and so the proposed channel would offer a counter perspective.
A Reuters report states that the main French state-owned TV and radio groups made a case that their existing networks abroad would allow them to target 36 million homes in the Middle East, Africa and Europe, using English and Arabic as well as French at an early stage. The plan is to have the channel up and running by next year.
French broadcaster LCI wants a 50:50 venture with the state sector groups in the running, France Television and Radio France Internationale (RFI). It also maintained that the state would have to foot the bill.
LCI News channel was set up a decade ago but its audience is limited to the French. LCI’s plan is to provide subtitles in English or Arabic for global audiences, Around 30 to 40 per cent of the programme content would differ from the news and debates aired in France.
Another proposal comes from RFI. It plans to set up the international news channel with France Television at a cost of around 35 million euros ($38 million) a year. One more party said to be in the fray Canal Plus has stated that its experience in the delivery of digital TV would come in handy but stayed silent on the issue of the kind of content that it would offer.
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.
