News Broadcasting
SET expects to reach full subscriber base within a month
Sony Entertainment Television, which joined Star India and Zee TV as a completely pay-driven bouquet when its flagship channel became fully encrypted on 1 September, expects to reach a subscriber base of 26 million viewing homes within the next 30 days.
According to Shantonu Aditya, senior V-P franchise channels and distribution, Sony has already achieved a subscriber base of 20 million after the rollout of over 4,500 set top boxes in the A and B centres across the country. Distribution was going on across other centres at a fast clip, Aditya said.
Aditya said that due to the improved yield that had been achieved (yield is defined by the average number of subscribers that the cable operator declares per box) SET had significantly reduced estimates on the number of boxes that would be required to reach a subscriber base (26 million) equal to that existing pre-encryption. Aditya said he hoped to achieve his target with the rollout of 6,000 boxes but added that at the end of it all that figure might reach as high as 7,000.
That is still far lower than the original estimate of a 10,000 box requirement for full rollout.
News Broadcasting
News18 India to air Sabse Bada Dangal on 4 May counting day
Channel promises fastest results, live trends and analysis across five states.
MUMBAI: Ballots will do the talking and screens will do the shouting. As counting day approaches for high-stakes Assembly elections across West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Assam and Puducherry, News18 India is gearing up for an all-day broadcast of its flagship election show, Sabse Bada Dangal, on 4 May from 6 am onwards. The Hindi news channel plans to deliver continuous, real-time updates as votes are tallied, combining live counting data with on-ground reporting and studio analysis. With political fortunes set to shift through the day, the coverage will track every swing, surge and surprise as trends turn into results.
The broadcast will feature a mix of senior political leaders, analysts and experts, offering instant reactions and decoding the evolving electoral picture. Expect heated debates, quick takes and detailed breakdowns as the numbers settle across all five states.
For News18 India, counting day has long been a high-visibility moment. The network is banking on its reporting reach, editorial bandwidth and technology-driven coverage to stay ahead in what is often a fiercely competitive news cycle.
With multiple battlegrounds and shifting narratives, the day promises both drama and data in equal measure. And if all goes to plan, Sabse Bada Dangal will once again turn the counting of votes into prime-time spectacle.
