Basil
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India Cast to build News 18 brand internationally
MUMBAI: Within a year of it first launching in the UK, IndiaCast is playing on the on-going general elections card and taking the news brand News 18 India to other parts of the world.
The channel that first began broadcasting in the UK in July last year and had content from CNN –IBN with customisation to fit local taste, has now gone ahead and launched it in Singapore and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) as well.
The channel will offer news from the country which includes current affairs, politics, local weather and business news. “We want to expand the news business globally but differently. We are creating a hybrid channel with a lot of business content as well. We have the expertise with CNBC and moneycontrol.com. So ‘News 18 India’ will feature market opening, market closing, daily market roundup, weekly market roundup etc. The programming will be made for our international feed by teams here but won’t be shown to the Indian channels,” says IndiaCast group COO Gaurav Gandhi speaking to indiantelevision.com.
The world has shifted its focus to India due to the general elections, giving IndiaCast, a good enough reason to launch it now. Within the next two- three months, the channel will also be launched in the US, Canada and other global markets.
The network feels that News 18 India in the UK was a huge success leading it to being build globally. Going forward it is also exploring options of inserting capsules of local news. “We want to make it an international service for looking into India. Outside India, people don’t want to carry four channels but they want to know the political news and business news. So we are providing them one wholesome channel. India is important to the world and now since elections are happening we have upped the game on News 18,” adds Gandhi.
Additionally, Rishtey which recently set its foot on the Indian soil will also be traveling countries very soon. US and Australia are the next markets to launch Rishtey but with different, customised feed. “We launched Rishtey first in UK as a pay-TV channel. Then we saw potential for it in India and so we got it as a Free to Air (FTA) channel here. When we launch it in other parts of the world, it won’t be FTA, but a pay TV service,” highlights Gandhi.
Rishtey in the UK has content from both India as well as Pakistan and it aims to keep its differentiation in other markets too. As of now, Rishtey in India, which just finished distribution across various platforms, is now looking at getting advertisements.
