News Broadcasting
CNN International launches ‘Smart Business’
MUMBAI: CNN International has announced the launch of Smart Business – a new weekly feature segment that will profile the trailblazers using innovative new approaches and the latest technology to create new business opportunities.
From 3 September, Smart Business will air on the network during the recently-launched The Business View with Nina Dos Santos and World Business Today so that it reaches EMEA and Asia primetime audiences. Each week the segment will feature a different company or industry personality who has broken the mould in the world of business to thrive in a digitised and connected world.
Smart Business aims at helping viewers learn first-hand about a wide range of workplace innovations on topics as diverse as digital advertising, supply chains, business intelligence and technical literacy to name a few. The first Smart Business segments will include: Seattle-based pioneer Blab, which is using technology to predict what conversations will happen on social media; co-working space The Factory, Berlin’s first major start-up hub; and UK company Decoded, whose coding courses help employees unlock the digital world. Each report will explain how the company or individual harnessed opportunities through digital innovation, illustrate the change to the wider marketplace and in the process solve age-old problems of doing business.
Online, a dedicated microsite will supplement the show’s video content with in-depth stories, Q&As and opinion pieces as well as infographics and data visualisation.
“Smart Business will give viewers the inside track on what happens when industry leaders use technology and a fresh approach to develop brand new business opportunities,” said CNN International senior VP, programming Mike McCarthy. “Covering innovative thinking from all around the world, Smart Business is the perfect complement to CNN’s business programming. From utilising technology and taking a different look at workplace challenges, the show gives executives and decision makers another reason to tune in to CNN.”
News Broadcasting
CNN-News18 to host Kolkata Town Hall on Hooghly River
‘Bhalobasa Bengal Inspiring Bharat’ event on April 20 brings cultural icons, trailblazing women and leaders aboard a cruise to celebrate Bengal’s enduring influence.
MUMBAI: Bengal is about to make fresh waves on the Hooghly and this time the current is pure conversation. CNN-News18 is taking its iconic Town Hall format to the waters of the iconic Hooghly River on 20 April 2026 with a special edition titled ‘Bhalobasa Bengal – Inspiring Bharat’. The floating event will celebrate the state’s rich cultural legacy and how its ideas, creativity and spirit continue to shape the rest of the country.
The unique riverside setting draws on Bengal’s history as a cradle of reform, art and intellectual thought. The speaker line-up mirrors that diversity: cultural heavyweights Mithun Chakraborty and Sreenanda Shankar will share the stage with trailblazing “Devis” such as Tanya Sanyal (India’s first woman firefighter in aviation), Ipsita Chakraborty (Kolkata’s first woman bartender) and Reshma Nilofer Visalakshi (Nari Shakti awardee and marine pilot). Music will flow through the celebrated pianist-vocalist duo Sourendro and Soumyojit, while public life and governance will be represented by Smriti Irani, Leander Paes, Saira Shah Halim, Keya Ghosh, Rekha Patra, Roopa Ganguly and Babul Supriyo.
CNN-News18, editorial affairs director, Rahul Shivshankar, said the event honours voices that carry Bengal’s legacy forward. Smriti Mehra, CEO – English & Business News, Network18, added that Bengal’s stories resonate far beyond its borders, especially as the state heads into polls.
From the first woman to battle flames in the skies to legendary actors who shaped Indian cinema, the gathering promises a rich mix of inspiration, courage and candid dialogue. In a city where culture has always flowed as freely as the river itself, CNN-News18 is turning the Hooghly into a floating forum for ideas that matter.
Tune in on 20 April on CNN-News18, CTV and YouTube to catch Bengal’s heartbeat in full flow.
