News Broadcasting
DD Urdu channel starts beaming
MUMBAI: Doordarshan’s Urdu channel — DD Urdu — was officially launched on 15 August to coincide with India’s 60th Independence Day.
With its launch, DD Urdu now becomes the second service after ETV Urdu, managed by the Hyderabad based Eenadu TV, to have a 24-hour channel dedicated to the language.
DD Urdu was officially launched by Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh, who said that with the combined force of globalization and television, which would reach every nook and corner of the world.
The advent of this channel will strengthen the civilisational foundations of the country and would promote unity, Singh said.
Urdu is a symbol of rich, cultural and literary mosaic of our country and the new channel would help take this role of Urdu language further forward, he added.
In a speech laced with poetry and erudition, the PM dwelled on the social and literary achievements of Urdu and celebrated the language’s contribution in the cultural journey of the nation, according to an official release.
Information & broadcasting minister Priya Ranjan Dasmunsi said the new channel will fulfill the media needs of over 50 million Urdu speaking people in the country. The UPA government is committed to this cause and will provide all support in this regard, Dasmunsi stated.
Referring to great Urdu poets like Mirza Ghalib, Mir Taqi Mir and Firaq Ghorakpuri, Dasmunsi said that Urdu language and literature have had a deep impact on our culture. “During the freedom struggle, famous Urdu slogans motivated and inspired the youth. Urdu had brought about a new culture and promoted the concept of unity in diversity,” he added.
In his welcome address, Prasar Bharti chairman MV Kamath described Urdu as a pan Indian language. He said that DD Urdu would preserve and promote the great cultural heritage and literary aspect of this rich language.
UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi, several Union ministers, personalities and senior officials of the I&B ministry and Prasar Bharti were present on the occasion.
DD Urdu channel has been conceived as a heritage channel, which will have segments on entertainment and enrichment for culture and information. It will initially have a daily transmission of seven hours which would subsequently be extended to 24 hours per day.
It is worth noting here that the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), has been scouting for joint venture partners for launching television news channel services in Urdu, beside Hindi, in India.
Sahara news network, which manages a bouquet of news channels, had also targeted to launch a Urdu news and information channel on 15 August. But, the channel is likely to be on air by the end of the current year.
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.
