News Broadcasting
NBC’s upcoming Martha Stewart series gets enthusiastic response
MUMBAI: Just how strong a draw Martha Stewart is on American television can be gauged by this piece of news.
NBC Universal Domestic Television Distribution claims to have sold its upcoming daily series with Martha Stewart in more than 60 per cent of the US television market as a part of its national syndication drive. The series goes on air later this year.
As reported earlier by Indiantelevision.com, Stewart has teamed up with the reality TV guru Mark Burnett for a new daily series.
The hour-long show will be taped live with a studio audience. Its USP is a new programming format that allows audience members and special guests to participate and interact with Martha.
Viewers will learn new ways to enhance their lives as audience members and even celebrity guests help Martha unveil great ideas and new projects — right from cooking and entertaining to decorating and home renovating, and much more. The segments will be engaging, illuminating and fun, appealing to a broad audience of viewers.
The series has been sold on stations from a number of US broadcast station groups, including Hearst-Argyle, Gannett, Scripps Howard, Belo, Freedom, CBS, Young, Clear Channel, Meredith and Milwaukee Journal.
NBC Universal Domestic Television Distribution president Barry Wallach said, “The station community is very excited about Martha’s return to daytime television in the fall of 2005. With the first half of the US sales now completed, Martha’s return has been enthusiastically endorsed by top stations all across the country, ensuring an unsurpassed launching pad.”
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.
