News Broadcasting
IPL resolves dispute with news broadcasters
NEW DELHI: Five and half minutes of news footage of the Indian Premier League will now be available on all the news channels as the News Broadcasters Association (NBA) and IPL authorities have met and resolved the issue.
The channels will have to pay nothing for up to that duration to the IPL match footage, sources said.
Some of the news channels today, when the blackout entered its second day, started making the visual announcement in faded fonts across the screens, that IPL news will now be available.
Times Now CEO Chintamani Rao, who is the chief negotiator for the NBA on this issue, told indiantelevision.com, “NBA and IPL have met and resolved the issues. The negotiation ended last night.”
Asked whether the IPL authorities have agreed to give the news clippings footage free of cost, Rao refused to divulge the arrangement. “All I want to say is that we have resolved all issues and the case is closed. IPL news will be back on the news channels,” Rao said.
However, industry sources said that though the news channels had demanded seven minutes of free news clips per match, and the IPL had refused anything gratis, the final agreement is that the news channels will get five and half minutes of free footage from all IPL matches
This followed a protracted negotiation that lasted more than two days after the NBA went blank on IPL news from the midnight of 15 April.
IPL had already agreed to the terms and conditions of the newspapers and news agencies regarding use of photographs taken by them at the mega sporting event.
News Broadcasting
India Today Group debuts AI anchor ‘Sutra’ at AI Impact Summit 2026
Sutra aims to simplify live policy debates using sovereign AI models
NEW DELHI: India Today Group has unveiled Sutra, an AI-driven news anchor designed to deliver real-time, contextual reporting, marking the group’s latest push to integrate artificial intelligence into mainstream journalism.
The AI anchor was introduced at the India AI Impact Summit 2026 in New Delhi and developed in collaboration with BharatGen, with the initiative showcased by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology.
India Today Group said Sutra is built to navigate complex policy discussions and fast-moving developments by synthesising information into concise, accessible insights, aimed at narrowing the gap between high-level debates and public understanding. The AI anchor was used to surface live takeaways from key sessions at the summit.
India Today Group chief AI officer Nilanjan Das, said the project was focused on clarity and accessibility without diluting editorial rigour. He added that working with BharatGen aligned the group’s AI ambitions with India’s broader push towards sovereign technology capabilities.
BharatGen CEO Rishi Bal, said the partnership reflected a shift from basic automation towards deeper contextual intelligence in media. He emphasised the importance of indigenous, multimodal AI models capable of understanding Indian languages, regional dialects and cultural nuance, particularly as AI-driven news formats gain traction.
The launch positions India Today Group among the first major Indian media houses to deploy an AI anchor backed by home-grown technology, underscoring a growing convergence between journalism, public policy and sovereign AI infrastructure.
