ITV

Tag: Channel 10

  • News channels to telecast Durga Puja live

    News channels to telecast Durga Puja live

    KOLKATA:  With the arrival of Durga Puja in Bengal, the biggest festival in the state, India’s national broadcaster, Doordarshan along with other regional Bengali channels will telecast the grand festival from Kolkata and other parts of West Bengal live for the next four days.

     

    Channels planning live telecast of the celebrations include 24 Ghanta, Akash Bangla, Star Ananda, Tara News, ETV News, Channel 10, Ne Bangla and Kolkata TV among other channels.

     

    Talking about the same, a Focus Bangla official said, “We will invite singers to our studios. We will also visit a celebrity’s house for the puja and be a part of their home experience.”

     

    Adding to that, a 24 Ghanta reporter added, “Each year, organisers come up with new themes and try to better their previous attempts. We try to cover all the important pujas from different locations so that old people and the young alike can enjoy the live puja from indoors.”

     

    The 10-day festival which started on 25 September will conclude on 3 October.

     

    Festooned with lights, giant cardboard cut-outs and clay figures adorn the entrances to lanes. The city has also been decked up like a bride to welcome the goddess.

     

  • Channel 10’s survival strategy

    Channel 10’s survival strategy

    KOLKATA: Channel 10, a 24 hours Bengali News channel and also one of the surviving TV channels from the otherwise redundant Saradha Group stable, plans to introduce a sponsored slot for soft programmes soon. This is to keep the show running for the channel. The move comes after the Non Resident Indian (NRI) businessman and sole financier Samir Chakraborty decided to discontinue with his investment plans to run the channel.

     

    The other channels under Saradha Group are Tara Newz and Tara Muzik. According to sources within the channel, Channel 10 is also looking for new financiers.

     

    “While we have always focused on hard news, we are eventually moving towards soft features, the promotions for which are on. We had to do this to run the channel. We will try to walk alone until we find a financier,” said a senior from the channel on condition of anonymity.

     

    It can be recalled that the Saradha-owned Channel 10 had closed down like the other media ventures including Sakalbela, The Bengal Post, Azad Hind, Prabhat Varta, Seven Sisters Post, Tara Newz and Tara Muzik among others after the Group’s chit fund business went bust in April last year.

     

    It was after this that the Channel 10 employees formed an Employees’ Welfare Association to resolve payment issues. “But this did not help much, since employees were still not paid regularly,” added the source.

     

    The News channel again saw the light of day after the Calcutta High Court permitted Chakraborty to run it. While this came as a huge relief to more than the 268 employees working there, the channel is in turmoil yet again due to shortage of investment.

     

    When asked why the earlier financier washed his hand from the channel, the source said, “Since both the ED (Enforcement Directorate) and CBI (Central Bureau of Investigation) are scrutinising the Saradha scam closely, Chakraborty has decided to discontinue with this venture.”

     

    Sources also hint that Chakraborty had applied for satellite license, before deciding to part ways with the channel.

     

    That apart, Chakraborty was also looking at producing sports and entertainment content related news which could be engaging for the viewers. “But nothing materialised,” recalls an employee.

     

    Last year Tara (Television Aimed at Regional Audiences) Newz also introduced sponsored slot for sports news as a survival strategy.

  • DD Bangla, among other Bengali channels to live telecast Durga immersions

    DD Bangla, among other Bengali channels to live telecast Durga immersions

    KOLKATA: India’s national broadcaster, Doordarshan is likely to live telecast Durga Visarjan (immersion of Goddess Durga) on DD Bangla from 6:15 pm today.

     

    While other regional Bengali channels like 24 Ghanta, Akash Bangla, Star Ananda, Tara News, ETV Bangla, Channel 10, Ne Bangla and Kolkata TV among various other channels apart from covering news will live telecast the Durga Visarjan from Kolkata and other parts of West Bengal from noon till late evening.

     

    Biswa Majumdar, editor-in-chief, Northeast Bangla (Ne Bangla), a Bengali language 24×7 news channel, said: “We will show live Visarjans from noon till late evening. Most of the channels would be busy in covering the immersion as most of the idols will be immersed today as tomorrow is Eid.”

     

    Covering teary eyed devotees bidding an emotional farewell as idols of goddess Durga and her four children – Lakshmi, Saraswati, Ganesha and Kartik – be to immersed in ponds, lakes and rivers of West Bengal is a touching experience, said a cameraman.

     

    We will invite singers in our studios. We will also go to some celebrity puja and be a part of their home experience, said another reporter.

     

    Married women would be decked in the ritualistic red-and-white sarees marking the event with the customary “Sindoor Khela” or smearing each other and the idols with red vermillion to prepare the goddess and her clan for their long journey home, as dhaaks (traditional drums) plays in the background.

     

    There will be festive look on the banks of the Ganges and other water bodies, with spirited chants of “Bolo Durga Mai Ki Jai” adding to the fervour.