Chennai: ETV News Network owned by TV18 is set to launch News Channels in Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Assam as part of its expansion plan. The Network is fully geared up for the launch eyeing the upcoming elections in respective states by Mid May.
The News Channels in Tamil, Malayalam and Assam will be named as News 18 Assam, News 18 Kerala and News 18 Assam respectively.
Sources from ETV News Network states that the TV18 is awaiting regulatory approval for the launch of these regional News Channels and their original plan of launch in Mid March was revised to Mid April due to the regulatory reason.
Apart from News Channels owned by Political parties Such as Jaya News, Kalaignar Seithigal, Captain News in Tamil Nadu, SRM Group owned Puthiya Thalaimurai, Thanthi TV owned by Daily Thanthi, Polimer News owned by Polimer TV and Sun TV Networks Sun News are the prominent leaders in the News and Infotainment Space.
Similarly, in Kerala, Asianet News from Asianet Communications, Manorama News from Malayala Manorama Group, Mathrubhumi News from Mathrubhumi Group and Reporter TV are some of the prominent players in Malayalam News and Infotainment space.
In Assam, the leading players are News Live, Pratidin Time, Assam Talks, DY 365 and Prag News.
Market Sources also confirm that TV18 has roped in M Gunasekaran as editor of News18 Tamil Nadu, While M Saikia is the news editor of News18 Assam and Pramod Raghavan as the Associate Editor of News18 Kerala. The channels will be operated from Hyderabad until the facilities are created in the respective Markets.
ETV News Network already operates regional language channels such as ETV Uttar Pradesh / Uttarakhand, ETV Madhya Pradesh/Chhattisgarh, ETV Bihar/Jharkhand, ETV Rajasthan, ETV News Bangla, ETV News Kannada, ETV News Gujarati, ETV News Odia, ETV News Haryana/Himachal and ETV News Urdu.
