Times Network, part of one of India’s biggest media houses the Times of India group, is exploring launching a Hindi language news channel, which, according to people in know, is tentatively titled Times Navbharat (the group owns a Hindi newspaper called Navbharat Times).
Though Times Network has three news channels within its fold — Times Now, Mirror Now and ET Now — all three broadcast content primarily in English, leaving the huge Hindi-speaking market untapped. It must be admitted here that at times, Times Now and Mirror Now do air content with a mix of English and Hindi languages as some participants, including the country’s Prime Minister and Home Minister, prefer to speak in Hindi.
Details about the proposed Hindi news channel from the Times stable are still sketchy and no official confirmation was forthcoming despite phone messages sent to Times Network CEO MK Anand.
In recent times, English news channels have started Indian language siblings to tap into the non-English speaking markets within the country. Republic, for example, not only started a Hindi channel over a year back, but also debuted a Bengali-language news channel just before the State elections in West Bengal started in eight phases earlier this year.
Times Network prides itself for being an organization with people who
“know it is in them to shape the future”. Seizing this opportunity, Times Network with its credo Now or Nothing, claims to have taken the center stage of “influencing the influencer, by delivering the most compelling and irreplaceable content” to viewers.
The Times Group houses other brands too like ET NOW, Mirror NOW, Movies NOW, Movies Now HD, MN+, Romedy NOW and Romedy NOW HD, MNX and MNX HD and Zoom.