Arnab Goswami, Rajeev Chandrasekhar and firms floated for news venture ‘Republic’
application has been made to the MIB to obtain licence for a TV news channel
TV news anchor and former Times Now chief editor Arnab Goswami has teamed up with entrepreneur and Rajya Sabha MP Rajeev Chandrasekhar for his TV plus digital news venture ‘Republic’. An application has been made to the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB) to obtain licence for a TV news channel.
The two have floated two companies for the new venture. The companies have been named ARG Outlier Media and SARG Media Holding. Joining Goswami and Chandrasekhar is the former’s wife Samyabrata Ray Goswami, who was working with The Telegraph.
The three are on the board of both the companies. Incidentally, the companies have been named after the initials of the husband wife duo. ARG stands for Arnab Ranjan Goswami while SARG stands for Samyabrata Ray Goswami.
Ahmedabad-based Equirus Capital MD Ajay Garg is also a director of ARG Outlier Media. Another person by the name of Mohit Jayanti Raghunath Dhamne is a signatory in the company. SARG has only three directors—Goswami, his wife and Chandrasekhar.
Chandrasekhar already has a TV news business under Asianet News Network, which owns and operates two channels—Asianet News (Malayalam) and Suvarna News (Kannada) besides Kannada Prabha newspaper.
ARG Outlier Media’s authorised and paid-up capital is Rs 35 lakh and 22.12 lakh respectively. In case of SARG Media, the authorised and the paid-up capital are Rs 51.3 crore and 27.3 crore respectively.
The two companies have been registered with RoC Mumbai. Goswami, who was based out of Mumbai during his stint with Times Now, will continue to operate from the city.
Speaking at a Dainik Bhaskar function in Jaipur, Goswami had said that the idea behind Republic is to change the perspective of journalism.
“Politicians give ads in news channels and mistreat journalists. All of these things have encouraged me to start Republic. The idea behind ‘Republic’ is to change the perspective of journalism,” he has been quoted as saying.
Republic will be a people-centric channel. “I believe in this country. There is a reason why we have named our venture Republic. It means ‘for the people’… undiluted and direct to the hearts of our people. If we are true, I know you will not let down my faith in you,” Goswami had stated.
Arnab Goswami, Rajeev Chandrasekhar and firms floated for news venture ‘Republic’ | TelevisionPost.com