News Broadcasting
Zee Telefilms to launch Marathi news channel ’24 Tas’
MUMBAI: Zee Telefilms Ltd. chairman Subhash Chandra is giving his news business a big push. His latest plan of action: to launch a Marathi news channel by the end of this year.
Zee News Ltd (ZNL), the company which houses the news and regional channels, plans to invest Rs 1 billion over three years for this venture. 24 Tas (24 hours), as such, will become the first channel in the Marathi news space.
“We plan to launch the Marathi news channel by December-end. Our projected investment for this is Rs 1 billion over a three-year period. We are putting the equipment in place,” says Zee News Ltd. director Laxmi Goel.
More local language news channels are on the agenda. Goel had earlier told Indiantelevision.com that the company would launch news channels in the southern languages. Zee already runs a Bengali news channel through a joint venture with Akash Bangla.
ZNL, will also be appointing a chief executive officer soon, said Goel. The company is also planning to launch a Tamil and a Malayalam channel to cover up all the southern language states.
The company expects to post a 33 per cent compound annual growth rate (CAGR) over the next five years to touch revenue of Rs 8.7 billion by FY 2011, up from Rs 2.01 billion in FY 2005-06. ZNL’s operating margins, which stood at 16 per cent, are expected to expand to around 30 per cent during this period.
ZNL has a networth of Rs 1.7 billion. The capital employed (as of 1 April 2006) is Rs 2.31 billion with loan funds standing at Rs 612 million.
Chandra’s expansive news plans include the recent acquisition of a majority stake in United News of India (UNI), a news wire agency, which will give him access to a widely spread out infrastructure.
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.
