News Broadcasting
MAK TV ready for rollout, plans to start 4-channel test feed 24 August
MUMBAI: It’s been a long time in the incubator but Manoranjan Aur Kya (Mak) Television Network is apparently ready to roll. The test signal starts 24 August for four of the channels of the six-channel pay network, says Mak chairman and managing director Karan Saluja.
The four channels are Mak Prime (Hindi entertainment), Mak Telugu, Mak Music and Mak Bangla Movies and are expected to be broadcasting with a full-fledged eight hours of fresh programming daily in digital free to air mode from 16 September, according to Saluja. By mid-October Mak Sindhi and Mak Style (fashion) will also be up and running as digital FTA, which is when the other four channels will become encrypted feeds, Saluja says.
By mid-November all six channels will have completed their encryption and would be a completely pay-driven network, he asserts.
On the distribution front, Saluja says Mak will be seeding about 15,000 Technosat set top boxes across the country and pricing them at Rs 15,000 per STB. Mak will be uplinked out of Singapore and has taken 21 MHz transponder space on the Telstar 10 satellite for downlink, Saluja says.
The industry had written Mak off but Saluja says work has been on at a feverish pace keeping the status of the project out of the public eye. Saluja, formerly head of Reminiscent Television, was the man who set up the Gujarati Channel ‘Gurjari’ and Punjabi Channel ‘Lashkara’.
Saluja has been working away these past months even as network directors like Satish Menon (ex-Zee and now Sahara TV president), Prashant Sanwal (ex-Sony and now director of the Zee Group’s Alpha regional channels) and Hitesh Sabharwal (Sony’s former distribution head) upped and left. Saluja has put together a new team with Vishnu Patel (he was the programming head of Zee TV for brief stint till March 1999) heading programming and Sanjeev Fernandes heading distribution. One person who has been associated with Mak from the beginning in an advisory capacity and is still with them is Amit Ray, executive vice president, media, Mudra Communications.
Regarding finances, Saluja said he has put together $ 10 million for the first phase of funding. Queried as to who were Mak’s promoters, Saluja says besides himself, there are three other promoters – Deepak Agarwal (he’s in the impost export business), Sunil Kishorepuria (of the Kolkata-based Jeevan Sagar Group) and Somnath Battacharya (running a pharmaceuticals company). Saluja clarified that his was not sweat equity but funding, as was the case for the other four.
For three of the channels, Mak Prime, Mak Telugu and Mak Bangla, Saluja has the following as attractions that he says will immediately draw in viewership. For Mak Prime Saluja says he’s in serious talks for concepts that are being developed around a few of Bollywood’s brightest. Aishwarya Rai, Urmila Matondkar, Manisha Koirala, Rekha, Sunil Shetty, Ajay Devgan are some of the names that he throws around.
Mak Telugu will have a blockbuster show featuring Telugu film star Krishna as its channel driver, Saluja says. As for Mak Bangla Movies, Saluja claims he has the rights for 750 Bangla films, including rights for one year to “all 13 movies of the legendary filmmaker Satyajit Ray.”
Saluja is certainly not thinking small. Now it remains to be seen how successful he is in seeing his vision through.
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.
