MUMBAI: India TV has appointed experienced professionals at three key positions. Ajay Kumar has been appointed as consulting editor, Anand Pandey will be editor- research and planning and Jaya Prakash Singh has joined as chief of bureau, Mumbai.
Kumar has 27 years of experience in television journalism. He has been the managing editor of News Nation channel for the last four and a half years. During the nineties, he worked as special correspondent and anchor for Aaj Tak and Newstrack for seven years, after which he worked in Star News as editor and anchor for four years. He returned to Aaj Tak as executive editor in 2007 and worked for more than five years in his second stint. In 2016, he joined News Nation as part of its core launch team. Kumar has interviewed several national and international personalities, anchored popular TV shows and did live reporting during major news events in India and abroad.
Pandey has 25 years of experience in print media. Starting as a cub reporter for Dainik Bhaskar in Indore in 1995, he later worked for the national political bureau of the newspaper in Delhi. He had a three-year stint at Zee News in Delhi and was resident editor for Nai Dunia in Jabalpur. He later worked as resident editor for the Indore and Bhopal editions of Dainik Bhaskar. He worked for three years as group editor for Nai Dunia-Dainik Jagaran newspaper group. For the last two years, he has been editor of DB Star, Dainik Bhaskar, Bhopal.
Singh returns to India TV as Mumbai bureau chief after a gap of two years. Earlier, he had worked for India TV as Mumbai bureau chief for six years. He has 26 years of experience in print and television journalism, and had earlier stints in Sahara Samay and IBN7, before joining India TV. A livewire, hardworking reporter, he was among the first TV reporters to reach Taj Hotel on the fateful night of 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks.
India TV managing director Ritu Dhawan said: “For television viewers among various TG groups, India TV has become synonymous with ‘television news’ during the current Covid2019 and India-China LAC standoff crisis. The induction of these three experienced professionals will surely work as a stimulus to India TV’s leap to the next big level. I extend my congratulations to the new appointees and wish them success in their new endeavour.”
Tag: Sahara Samay
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India TV makes 3 key appointments
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News Nation UP/Uttarakhand strengthens sales team
MUMBAI: By virtue of its size and population, Uttar Pradesh is an important state not only for politicians but also for news channels.
So, in February this year, before the Lok Sabha elections took off, News Nation launched its first regional channel, News Nation Uttar Pradesh/Uttarakhand.
Now that the polls are over, the channel plans to boost its sales team and increase the number of advertisers on board.
“The Uttar Pradesh market is a priority due to its population. We are looking at hiring about four to five people to deal with UP clients,” says News Nation senior VP head of sales and marketing Abhay Ojha. The appointees will be based out of Kanpur, Noida, Gurgaon, DehraDun and eastern UP.
Advertisers being targeted include educational institutes, tea companies, small and medium enterprises and hosiery and footwear manufacturers, among others. Apparently, 40 per cent of national advertisers have already decided to be part of the regional channel while the rest would be roped in by the new team expected to be in place within a month’s time.
“Currently, our focus is on improving content. We adopted the same strategy for the national channel and went without ads for a while to up the ratings,” says Ojha, claiming that the national channel has 85 brands currently.
Ad rates for prime time in the state fall between Rs 500 and Rs 1200. With big players likes ETV UP/Uttarakhand, Zee Sangam, Sahara Samay Uttar Pradesh, India News UP/Uttarakhand and Samachar Plus UP/Uttarakhand in the fray, it’s going to be a challenging road ahead for News Nation UP/Uttarakhand.
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Alok Agrawal steps down as Zee Media CEO
MUMBAI: Zee Media CEO Alok Agrawal has decided to move on from his current role and is set to join Reliance Industries (RIL). However, he refused to comment on the new role he will be taking at RIL.
Sources in the company say that the position of Zee Media CEO has been dissolved and now that all senior management will report directly to Zee News group CEO Bhaskar Das.
Sharing his movement on Twitter, Agrawal said “Delighted to share my move to Team #RIL. Thank you Team @ZeeNews.” Recently, Sahara Samay group editor BV Rao also quit and joined RIL.
Agrawal joined Zee News in 2012 after leaving Cheil India as its COO for south west Asia. Prior to that he was with Bates 141 and Grey Advertising.
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Nalin Mehta quits Headlines Today
MUMBAI: Within weeks of India TV editorial director QW Naqvi and Sahara Samay group editor BV Rao quitting the respective channels, Headlines Today managing editor Nalin Mehta has also put in his papers and has left the channel.
Mehta had joined Headlines Today in September 2013 when Rahul Kanwal was elevated to editor at large of both Headlines Today and Aaj Tak. He has worked with news organizations such as Zee News, NDTV and Times Now.
Apart from this, Mehta has published books such as ‘India on Television’ and ‘Television in India’.
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Sahara India to start a Bengali channel; roll out IPTV services soon
KOLKATA: The Lucknow-headquartered Sahara India Pariwar that has been in the media and entertainment business since some time now, plans to start a Bengali infotainment channel very soon.
Currently, the company has entertainment channels, a movie channel and many regional news channels. It also has round the clock regional news channels, Sahara Samay in 30 cities.
Sahara India chairman and managing director Subrata Roy, who was in Kolkata for a media interaction on Friday, said, “We have already widened our channel offerings. We plan to start a channel in the Bengali language space as well.” However, he refused to provide any further details.
Not just that, Roy also mentioned that the company plans to roll out internet protocol television (IPTV) system, though he didn’t divulge any further details about it too.
When Roy was quizzed about the low distribution of the Sahara channels, he rubbished it and said that the channels are doing well.
The Sahara Group would also be hiring 48,000 executives and 2.5 lakh lower level employees over a period of 8-10 years.
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Aalami Sahara is now Aalami Samay
MUMBAI: It was launched three years ago but came to a standstill barely months after coming into existence. However, with an experienced new editor Syed Faisal Ali coming on board fifteen months ago, Aalami Sahara, Sahara Samay’s Urdu news channel, decided to give it shot in the arm.
For starters, the entire network dropped the name ‘Sahara’ from its channels, changing the earlier Aalami Sahara to the new Aalami Samay.
Syed Ali has amitious plans to take the channel to the Middle East and Gulf countriesIn a bid to refresh its content and reach out to more Urdu speaking people, six more bureaus in Mumbai, Bengaluru, Kolkata, Lucknow, Patna and Hyderabad were added to the previous two in Delhi and Srinagar.
The hunt for good journalists fluent in reading and writing Urdu has been on for the past three to four months. “There are not many people who are from an Urdu background and even if they are, they are not happy to work in an Urdu channel,” says Faisal Ali.
As of now, each bureau has one journalist, two camera units and four stringers and the search is on for more journalists.
While most of the channel’s viewership comes from the states of Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Jammu, West Bengal, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Bihar and Assam, Ali plans to take the channel to the Middle East and Gulf countries to get more people hooked on to it.
“A lot of Indians in the Middle East view the channel because there are a lot of NRIs there who have an affinity to India,” claims Ali.
New programmes have been launched on the channel such as Takraan (aired every Sunday at 8: 30 pm) that see Ali conduct interviews with leaders from various fields. Renowned personalities such as Kapil Sibal, Arvind Kejriwal and Gulzar Dehelvi have already appeared on the show. Parvaaz is a weekly travel show while Halaat e Haazra is the daily news bulletin. Another new show called Farsh se Arsh Taq will be aired in November that will showcase ‘rags to riches’ stories of normal people.
The channel also wants to focus on international stories coming from the Middle East, Gulf and America. Aina-e-Aalam is a 15 minute bulletin at 9:00 pm that shows international stories. Aalami Business gives an insight into business opportunities in India as well as the Gulf countries.
The channel is trying to help minority Muslims in India to have a dedicated channel. “We want to brand the channel on the lines of Al Jazeera,” says Ali.
Marketing has already begun in force. About 10 lakh leaflets were distributed in various mosques on Friday as well as during Eid to attract people’s attention. An Urdu media conclave is also on the cards in December for which the Sahara board has approved the proposal by Ali.In terms of advertisers, it is still to get some big ones on board as only local advertisers are with the channel for now. Ali is however optimistic of getting big names such as Etihad Airways.
It claims to be the only Urdu channel that gives news all through the day while its competitors like Zee Salaam and ETV Urdu provide infotainment. An Urdu channel’s market is smaller than other regional channels. Zee Salaam was launched in 2010 while ETV Urdu was launched much earlier in 2001.
The number of Urdu channels in the country is quite low. Apart from these three there is Munsif TV, a news channel from Hyderabad and DD Urdu which is also infotainment. Remaining Urdu channels are all religious.
With this vibrancy that is trying to make the channel stand out from the rest let’s hope the channel’s second stint is much better.
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Sahara Samay NCR rebrands to Samay Rajasthan
MUMBAI: Recently, quite a few television channels have been in the news for sending their employees packing home. However, Subrata Roy’s Sahara Network seems to be hitting the headlines for anything but.
Indiantelevision.com has it from reliable sources that the Sahara Samay Network (regional channels) has had a makeover of sorts. Possibly driven by the realisation that stagnancy impacts viewership adversely, one of the network’s channels, Sahara Samay NCR – which hitherto served the states of Delhi, Haryana and Rajasthan – has rebranded itself as Samay Rajasthan, and will henceforth cater exclusively to Rajasthan.
On 18 September at 8:00 pm, the logo of Sahara Samay NCR changed to the new logo of Samay Rajasthan. The transformation was assisted by a show with eight anchors sporting traditional Rajasthani wear. An election show was aired between 8:30 pm and 9:30 pm to inaugurate the rebranded channel.
Apparently, the decision to go state-specific was taken after a careful analysis of the channel’s content and need. “We felt that Rajasthan needed exclusive dedication and by being in three different states, we weren’t giving them justice,” says Sahara Samay Editor (Network Operations) and News Co-ordination Sanjay Banerjee.
It was five to six months ago that the idea took seed. A strategy was adopted to try and be creative with the content of the rebranded channel. A decision to include soft news too was taken, keeping in mind the cultural heritage of the state. Airing only political news wouldn’t have been conducive with the channel’s objective to attract all types of audiences.
With ads being displayed through hoardings, newspapers and FM channels, “People in Rajasthan were already aware about the channel so we didn’t have to put in much effort,” says Banerjee.
Speaking about the rebranded channel, it will continue to be a 24-hour Hindi news channel. For now, it will be available only on cable (analog and digital) and internet, lagging behind in D2H.
Earlier on, only one bureau existed in Jaipur whereas seven more have now been added in strategic locations like Jodhpur, Udaipur, Bikaner, Kota, Alwar and Bharatpur. To impart a local flavour to the news, reporters and cameramen have been hired from local places while basic resources such as graphics and stock footage are shared within the network. Ravi Parashar has been appointed editor of the channel.
With Rajasthan already having a clutch of Hindi news channels, the latest addition being Zee Rajasthan Plus, how will Samay Rajasthan fare? Well, Banerjee is confident it will lead other newbies at least in terms of content.
Then again, the decision to revamp has two sides: Haryana has lost out on a channel while Rajasthan has gained one with focused coverage. The question now is will Rajasthan change its viewing patterns?
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TV reporter killed while covering major fire in Delhi
NEW DELHI: Mediaperson Ajay Tiwari, 34, was killed when he was covering a major fire at a factory-cum-godown in Dabri in south west Delhi on Wednesday afternoon.
Tiwari who was working for Sahara Samay for the past four years, is survived by his wife and a three-year old son.
In a condolence message, Information and Broadcasting Minister Ambika Soni said in Tiwari’s death, journalism has lost a promising talent. Tiwari died in the line of his duty maintaining the highest tradition of television journalism, the Minister added.
Madan Mohan, a cameraman with India News who was standing close to Tiwari, suffered injuries on his hands in the incident.
According to police, firemen who were already at the spot to douse the blaze took Tiwari out of the debris.
The police said that Tiwari got trapped inside the debris of a portion of the factory wall that collapsed after a cylinder blast in the factory.
“Tiwari, the field reporter with Sahara Samay, was covering the event for the channel when debris fell from the first floor of the building due to a cylinder blast,” said a senior fire official.
“Both were rushed to Deen Dayal Upadhyay Hospital where Tiwari succumbed to his injuries during treatment while Mohan is recuperating and is stated to be out of danger,” added the fire official.
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Sahara Samay launches ‘Kuch Meetha Ho Jaaye’
NEW DELHI: Sahara Samay has launched a new weekly programme, Kuch Meetha Ho Jaaye, that is aimed at showing “news with a positive side”.
Telecast every Saturday at 6 pm, the programme is also shown Samay’s Bihar channel at 10:30 am on Mondays and on the Uttar Pradesh channel at 10:30 am on Sunday.
Programming head Sahara India Media Vartika Nanda told indiantelevision.com that this weekly show is being telecast across all the news channels on the Sahara network.
The highlights of the 9 August show include stories about the Pune Mobile Planetorium which “moves from village to village”, a female football team, which has been selected for the state-level championship in Srinagar, a lady “sarpanch”, who has been elected twice and has changed the look of her village in Uttar Pradesh, the celebration of “sawan” with Banarasi Food Festival in Delhi, and the new fascination for trendy tattoos.
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Prasun Bajpai, two top editors quit Sahara Samay
NEW DELHI: In a sudden development, Punya Prasun Bajpai, along with two top members of the editorial team, has exited the Sahara group’s flagship Hindi news channel Samay.
Bajpai, Sanjay Bragta and Narendra Pratap Singh, the numbers one, two and three at the channel, resigned and left the office this afternoon. It is also learnt that a total of eight people have left, though their names were not available at the time of filing this report.
Both Bajpai and the channel admitted to the developments, though details of the reasons behind it were sketchy.
However, it is learnt that there was a lengthy meeting between the top officials of the company and the channel heads, apparently to see if a compromise could be worked out. The meeting ended in the resignation of the three top men.
When contacted, Sumit Roy, who heads the news business for Sahara, had this to offer. “They were asked to resign because of non-performance and serious dispute with the management. We were not getting the TRPs and channel share, and this was unworkable.”
Defended Bajpai: “We were given the responsibility of improving the channel and bringing in credibility. We had taken several radical steps to professionalise the channel. It is there for all to see. So if they now say it was non-performance, that is their version of things, I have nothing to say.”
It was during Bajpai’s stint that Sahara Samay dropped the name ‘Sahara’ and donned a new look.