News Broadcasting
NDTV Prime brings five new shows
MUMBAI: NDTV Prime, the entertainment half of the dual channel NDTV Profit/Prime, will be replenishing its 9 pm slot with five new shows that will begin from 28 July. The current reality show, Ticket To Bollywood, will be ending soon, giving way to the new ones.
The Boss Dialogues will air on Mondays that will let viewers see intimate conversations with directors, writers and entertainers of Bollywood. Produced by Qyuki Digital Media, it will be hosted by Indu Mirani and will have guests like Karan Johar, Sanjay Gupta, Ayan Mukherji, Farhan Akhtar, Imtiaaz Ali, Salim Khan and others.
Tuesdays will be for music lovers as The MJ Show, with former RJ Mihir Joshi who will dig into the private lives of renowned names of the Indian music industry. It will be partnered by Ping Network. Prime Documentaries will dominate the screen on Wednesdays. Prime Talkies with Pocket Films will have short films on funny and sad stories about love and passion.
Bollywood will be for Fridays as film critic Mayank Shekhar and filmmaker Fahad Samar will host Friday Double Bill to help you choose a movie for your weekend outing. This will be accompanied by The Making that will take you to the behind the scenes.
NDTV Prime was launched in March 2014 with an effort to reduce its loss coming in from NDTV Profit. Micromax is the channel sponsor for three years. Prime works on show bands with sponsors. Post 5 pm, NDTV Profit converts to Prime and stays for the whole days of the weekend. The channel is looking at breaking even within a year.
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.
