News Broadcasting
Random House Group acquires majority stake in BBC Books
MUMBAI: The Random House Group in the UK has agreed to acquire a majority shareholding in BBC Books. The deal brings together two publishers of non-fiction as BBC Books will become part of the Ebury Publishing Division of The Random House Group under Fiona MacIntyre, publisher of the Ebury Publishing Division.
BBC Worldwide will maintain a shareholding in BBC Books and the latter will continue to license relevant book publishing rights in BBC programmes. BBC Books will, as before, work within BBC editorial and commercial policy guidelines ensuring that appropriate controls are maintained over the BBC brand.
BBC Books’ recent bestsellers include David Attenborough’s Life in the Undergrowth and Alastair Fothergill’s Planet Earth.
Random House Group CEO Gail Rebuck said, “It is exciting to announce this new relationship, which complements and enhances our own non-fiction publishing, just as BBC Books celebrates an excellent year and looks forward to a very strong autumn. We have brought together two talented creative and successful publishing teams within one division, which will continue to publish the broad and distinguished range of adult non-fiction for which both companies are widely admired.
“This combination of the best creative talent backed by Random House’s international sales and distribution capacity ensures that we can expand on existing opportunities and create new projects for the global market.”
BBC Worldwide CEO John Smith said, “We have for some time stated our intention of seeking a partner for our books business and are delighted to have reached this agreement with a publisher of the calibre of Random House. The union will bring additional scope and scale to BBC Books and enable the imprint to build further on this year’s financial success and continue to grow its enviable list. We look forward to working with our new colleagues.”
The Random House Group is one of the largest general book publishing companies in the UK. The Group is based in London with subsidiary companies in India, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. The Group comprises four publishing divisions with 33 diverse and highly individual imprints including Jonathan Cape, William Heinemann, Chatto & Windus, Vintage, Corgi, Doubleday and Bantam Press. Novelists published by the Group include Dan Brown, Jilly Cooper, J M Coetzee, Sebastian Faulks, John Grisham, Robert Harris, Mark Haddon, Ian McEwan and Terry Pratchett.
The group’s non-fiction publishing consists of broad general non-fiction and specialist categories such as cookery, gardening, travel and business books.
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.
