ITV

Tag: Caushiq Bezboruah

  • Times Now ties up with News Live for poll coverage

    Times Now ties up with News Live for poll coverage

    KOLKATA: National news channel, Times Now, has tied up with Guwahati-based News Live, a 24×7 satellite news channel from the house of Pride East Entertainments, for election poll coverage.

     

     
    As per the agreement between the two channels, with polling starting from the North East, Times Now will telecast the news and feeds covered by News Live, starting Monday. Feeds on election coverage at different constituencies at the later stage will also be shared on 12 and 14 April.

     

     
    Apart from this, both the channels will share expert views and participate in discussions aired on each channel, informs a senior editor from News Live.
     

     

    “To cover the polling, News Live has deployed 17 OB (outside broadcasting) vans and 17 journalists”, says Pride East Entertainments CEO Caushiq Bezboruah

     

     
    “Mainstream media, especially TV, has always ignored the North East. In fact, clubbing all stories under the ‘North East’ is an easy way out for them which is unfair to the people of the region. It is good to know that a leading TV channel has tied up with an Assam-based network. We can hope to see substantial increase in coverage from the different states during this election season,” says television expert Pranab Ganguly.

     

    Similarly, a business consultant and White Canvas Services founder Samaresh Shah adds: “This was extremely needed. North East is an integral part of India’s economy and deserves as much attention as the rest of the country.  This is a welcome step. I hope that the same will lead to some interesting feeds for the audience.”
     

     

    Talking about the channel, News Live, which was launched in January 2008, Bezboruah says, “The channel has become one of the favourite among the viewers in North East market. The TRP of the channel last week was 190.8.”

     

     
    He adds that the channel is available in all cable homes of the North Eastern states including Assam, Meghalaya, Manipur, Mizoram, Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh, Sikkim and in parts of New Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai, North Bengal belt and Bhutan. “It is the only channel of the region which finds space on Freedish as well. It is also available on Dish TV, Sun Direct, Tata Sky, Airtel Digital TV, Reliance Big TV and Videocon d2h.”
     

     

    While the channel had tied-up with Times Now earlier as well, it will get its due ‘credit’ this time.
     

     

    Pride East Entertainments employs around 350 people including journalists and technicians.

  • ‘North East Live’ to expand in 7 north-eastern states

    ‘North East Live’ to expand in 7 north-eastern states

    KOLKATA: ‘North East Live’, a 24×7 satellite news channel from the house of Pride East Entertainments that was launched in Arunachal Pradesh last year is on an expansion spree. In the next six-seven months, the channel plans cover all the seven north-eastern states of India. As a part of that, the channel will be hiring 100 employees including journalists and technical staffs.

     

    However, the channel, which was in talks with various multiple system operators (MSOs) and direct-to-home (DTH) players, had to bear the brunt of high distribution charges because of which it has even given up the plans of all India distribution for the time-being. “The high carriage fee demanded by them makes it difficult for us to subscribe,” said Pride East Entertainments CEO Caushiq Bezboruah.

     

    Still North East Live can be watched at some places including Kolkata, few parts of Madhya Pradesh among others. “We have tied up with Siticable in Kolkata,” he said.

     

    However, the company has opted for an AOS application that would increase its penetration and has even seen considerable downloads in the north eastern market. “Apart from the AOS application, our website also provides all the audio-visuals of the news,” said Bezboruah.

     

    The Guwahati-based Pride East Entertainment also runs three other channels – Newslive, a news channel; and general entertainment channels (GEC) channels Rang and Ramdhenu. The company has around 350 employs working for it, of which, a team of 50 work for North East Live. “We have set up a studio at Arunachal Pradesh and for the Guwahati reporting, the infrastructure and manpower of ‘Newslive’ are used,” said Bezboruah.

     

    The feed for North East Live is uplinked from Guwahati presently and the company will continue to do so in future as well, informs Bezboruah.