News Broadcasting
TV18 bids to push programming on other channels, new show on Star launching in July
The Raghav Bahl-promoted Television Eighteen India Ltd, a television software producer and broadcaster which holds 49 per cent stake in CNBC India, has just signed a deal with Star India to produce an entertainment based programme for the channel.
The signing of the show, whose name is still under wraps, marks a fresh phase in the programming thrust of TV18, according to Haresh Chawla, CNBC India CEO. TV18 would now be looking at increasing the number of such shows across channels, Chawla said. While not being entirely invisible outside the CNBC India channel, TV18’s presence has been low key for the last five months or so. This was because all available resources for content development were being mopped up by the 24-hour business channel, company officials say. Currently, CNBC India airs an average of 11 hours of India-centric programming a day, all of which is produced by TV18.
The new show is essentially a talent search for people across the whole spectrum of the arts, company officials say. The show, whose name the officials didn’t want revealed, is scheduled to launch in July and will be a return of sorts for TV 18 to Star. In fact the company shot into prominence with The India Show (later the Amul India Show) on Star Plus in 1993. India Show went on to become the longest running series on Indian satellite television and won the Asia TV Awards for two years running. Talks are on for two more serials for which pilots have been done, officials say.
While the focus at present was on the Star projects, pitches were also being made to Sony and Zee, company officials said. Sony had expressed interest in a few serial concepts but these were still at the discussion stage, the officials said.
Currently TV18 has two programmes airing on Channel V – Late Night V and Very V – available to viewers in the UK on the BSkyB Network.
News Broadcasting
Times Network to air JVC Exit Poll across 5 regions on April 29
Four-hour broadcast spans states and Puducherry with data-led analysis
MUMBAI: Times Network is set to roll out what it calls one of its most expansive election programming efforts yet, culminating in the JVC Exit Poll on 29 April, with a multi-hour broadcast spanning key poll-bound regions.
The exit poll will air across Times Now and Times Now Navbharat, beginning at 5pm and 4pm respectively. Co-powered by Vedanta and Jindal Stainless, the programming aims to combine on-ground reportage with data-driven projections across West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Assam and Puducherry.
The network has deployed over 50 journalists across these regions, gathering voter sentiment and local insights in the run-up to polling. The effort builds on its ongoing election formats such as Election Yatra and Election Premier League, which have tracked campaign narratives and community-level issues.
In parallel, Times Now Navbharat has focused on constituency-level reporting in West Bengal through its Jan Gan ka Mann series, capturing voter opinions across diverse segments.
The coverage has also featured interviews with prominent political leaders. Kerala chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan and Congress leaders Ramesh Chennithala and V D Satheesan have appeared on the network’s election specials. From Tamil Nadu, voices including deputy chief minister Udhayanidhi Stalin, DMK MP Dayanidhi Maran, BJP leader K Annamalai and NTK’s Seeman have also featured in discussions.
On the day of the exit poll, the network’s primetime anchors, including Navika Kumar, Zakka Jacob and Sumit Awasthi, will lead the coverage. They will be joined by a panel of political analysts, psephologists and senior journalists offering real-time insights and interpretation of trends.
The programming will integrate grassroots reportage with analytics from the JVC Exit Poll, aiming to give viewers an early sense of electoral outcomes ahead of the official results on 4 May.
With its combined English and Hindi broadcast reach, Times Network is positioning this effort as a comprehensive look at voter sentiment, blending field reporting, data and debate to decode what could lie ahead when the final mandate is revealed.
