ITV

Tag: Ne Bangla

  • 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.

     

  • ABP Ananda gains big in week 25

    ABP Ananda gains big in week 25

    KOLKATA: When it comes to Bengali News channels and their performance in the week 25 of TAM TV ratings, ABP Ananda gained highest in terms of gross viewership in thousands (GVTs) as compared to other channels in the state.

     

    The channel from the house of Kolkata headquartered ABP Group garnered 1,477 GVTs as compared to the 1,394 GVTs achieved by 24 Ghanta.

     

    While Focus Bangla revamped, recently, from NE Bangla was seen to make a mark on people’s mind here. It overtook Kolkata TV by reporting a GVTs of 557.
     

    On the other hand, Kolkata TV, which was doing well till a few weeks ago, managed to garner only 143 GVTs.

     

    All the TAM findings take into account CS4+ for all the days in the state.

  • Focus Bangla in talks with Tata Sky, Dish TV to increase penetration

    Focus Bangla in talks with Tata Sky, Dish TV to increase penetration

    KOLKATA: The erstwhile Northeast Bangla (NE Bangla), recently rechristened Focus Bangla, is in talks with direct-to-home (DTH) players like Tata Sky and Dish TV to increase penetration. At present, only cable TV subscribers and Airtel Digital TV customers can view the channel.

     

    The 24×7 Bengali news channel also plans to put up 200 hoardings across the state of West Bengal from mid-April to send out the message that the channel is neutral and believes in airing unbiased news. It has even changed its logo to suggest that it will be more ‘focussed’ in presenting news from all angles.

     

    “We are in talks with Tata Sky and Dish TV though nothing has been finalised. We aim to reach 95 per cent TV homes in the state sooner,” Focus Bangla editor-in-chief Biswa Majumdar told indiantelevision.com.

     

    He also said that last week, the viewership of the new channel increased by around 22 per cent as compared to the week before. “Focus TV is in focus now. Focus Bangla is a news broadcasting and entertainment network,” he said and added that the channel would focus on political news with the impending elections and would interview most of the big names in the polls.

     

    Focus Bangla has more than 150 employees on board and is further recruiting people to cover all aspects of news, current affairs and especially, the Lok Sabha elections, to make a mark all over again on the Bengali audience.

     

    “For elections, we have 14 special programmes. Celebrities will go to places and interact with people,” Majumdar said.

     

    Apart from the ‘Khabar Aajke’ section, the channel has a separate Bollywood entertainment section.

     

    According to sources, Matang Sinh, a former minister of state for parliamentary affairs in the PV Narsimharao government owned Focus TV and NE Bangla. Last year however, Naveen Jindal, chairman of Jindal Steel and Power Ltd (JSPL) bought a stake in the channel through his family and associates. “Jindal had taken over Focus TV in Delhi last year,” said one of the sources.

  • NE Bangla becomes Focus Bangla, changes logo

    NE Bangla becomes Focus Bangla, changes logo

    KOLKATA: News channels across the country are gearing up for one of the biggest events of the country – the Lok Sabha elections – and that’s the reason even the 24-hour Bengali news channel, Northeast Bangla has made changes in its overall look and feel. Two weeks ago, the channel switched to a new name – Focus Bangla – with an aim to reach more viewers in the region. It has also changed its logo with a promise to be “focused” in presenting unbiased news and create better impact.

     

    The channel, with 150 employees on-board, is strengthening its position and is also recruiting more people in order to cover all the aspects of news, current affairs and the upcoming elections to make a mark in the region.

     

    The new logo, unlike the old one which was simple and straightforward, is very symbolic – just a box with a red outline – bringing across the message that the channel has a “focused” approach.

     

    The seriousness to create an impact on its audience is evident from the fact that the channel is even planning to move to a bigger studio at Topsia Road very soon.

     

    “With the right team and the right programmes, we are now poised to execute on the near-term opportunities that will provide the foundation for our future growth and success,” says Focus Bangla editor-in-chief Biswa Majumdar.

     

    Few years ago, the channel had created its own space with shows such as Khas Khabar. However, with the emergence of newer channels presenting better programmes, it soon lost its sheen.

     

    However, in September 2013, NE Bangla inducted veteran journalist Biswa Majumdar, who was helming the operations of Kolkata TV, as the editor-in-chief. Majumdar is now set to bring on “impactful news” and interviews of big shots from the political arena to take the news broadcasting and entertainment network to another level.

     

    Apart from the Khabar Aajke segment, the channel will have a separate Bollywood entertainment section and also a segment on health – Doctor Online.

     

    To get a grip over the audience, the channel needs to work on its programming, believe media analysts. “It will all depend on the content of the programme and how biased they are towards parties and how different they can be from others in the fray,” he remarks.

  • Positiv TV plans to launch national news channel ‘Focus’

    MUMBAI: Guwahati-based media company Positiv TV is planning to launch a bi-lingual national news channel ‘Focus.’ The target date is 26 January, 2008.

    “We will launch the news channel after the initial dry run. We are aiming at a 26 January launch if there are no procedural delays,” says Positiv TV promoter Manoranjana Sinh.

    With bureaus spread across the country, Focus’ head office will be in located in Noida.

    Positiv TV currently operates a bi-lingual news channel in North-East ‘NE TV’, a bi-lingual entertainment channel NE ‘Hi-Fi’ and a Bengali infotainment channel NE Bangla in West Bengal.

    Sinh says NE Bangla will be re-launched as a news channel on 2 December. NE Bangla operates out of Kolkata. Headed by Ramesh Gandhi, NE Bangla gets its content from Rainbow Productions. Earlier Rainbow Productions provided content to ATN news and DD.

    As reported earlier by Indiantelevision.com, Positiv TV will be also launching two news channels for Jharkhand and Hyderabad.

    The company will first launch Hamar TV in Jharkhand followed by HY TV in Hyderabad.

    North East Multimedia, the radio venture of the company, operates three FM stations in Guwahati, Shillong and Agartala. By the year end, it will roll out the fourth station in Itanagar to complete launching all stations of which it has obtained license.