Several new Indian TV news channels will soon be available in the Gulf.
Industry sources said either seven or eight news channels will be available in the next few days."There's a lot of jostling going on to capture the Indian audience. The idea is to reach out to as many of the Indians as possible."
Major satellite TV networks are working out last-minute distribution deals to reach the more than four million Indian viewers in the Middle East.
Star News changed completely yesterday, after New Delhi TV (NDTV) ended its contract producing the news package for Rupert Murdoch's company.
"We saw a very different Star News this morning ," said one regular viewer of NDTV yesterday.
The new channels promise to introduce radical changes from existing tried-and-tested format, including enriching content by covering more NRI affairs, whether they're in the Middle East or the Americas.
"Viewers have already developed certain expectations after watching the popular channels for several years. Now they'll be watching the changes very closely," the source added.
The Sahara Group itself plans seven news channels, of which the first, Sahara Samay, is already broadcasting. News becomes an all-Hindi channel run by Star, which started broadcasting yesterday.
Meanwhile, NDTV plans to launch two news channels, in Hindi and in English. The industry source says it plans to debut today but is still finalising distribution deals with satellite channels broadcasting over the Gulf.
NDTV used to produce news packages for Star News, which was available in the Pehla bouquet for the UAE viewers. Both NDTV and Star channels have hyped up their entry into the all-news Hindi TV.
Star, meanwhile, hopes to woo viewers with its Hindi programming and with cross-channel promotion on the hugely popular - and financially viable - Star Plus.
Its channel is expected to be less political in tone - it is the only one to be headquartered in Mumbai, not Delhi - and slightly "tabloid" in character.
NDTV's English channel, which promises to "take news to a different level", will be called "24x7" and it will feature the familiar Star News' "big guys" like Arnab Goswami and Barkha Dutt.
Its Hindi channel will be called "NDTV Samachar", and will feature a new team and has theme music by A.R. Rahman. The network will also feature Prannoy Roy, who will host programmes for his own channel.
Aaj Tak English will likely begin with a headline news format and hopes to replicate the tremendous success of Aaj Tak Hindi, India's top news channel, but using the same editorial team.
Gulf News
