Dawn News

DAWN News
Launched 2007
Network Dawn
Owned by Dawn Media Group
Picture format 4:3 (576i, SDTV)
Slogan Raat din saat din
Country Pakistan
Broadcast area Pakistan
Headquarters Karachi
Website dawnnews.tv
Availability
Satellite
Intelsat 10 3255-3/4
Pehla Channel 53

Dawn News is one of Pakistan's 24-hour Urdu news channel. Based in Karachi, the station is a subsidiary of Pakistan Herald Publications Limited (PHPL), Pakistan's largest English-language media group. The test transmission of the station occurred on May 25, 2007, and the channel went live on July 23, 2007. Originally in English, on May 15, 2010, Dawn News converted into an Urdu news channel after successful test transmission of four hours a day. The conversion was mainly due to its financial crisis and thin viewership in the country. Express 24/7 replaced it as Pakistan's only English news channel briefly, until it too was shut down by Express Media Group for financial reasons.

Dawn News' test transmission was launched by former President of Pakistan, Pervez Musharraf. The complete launch of the channel coincided with the result of the Supreme Court case which cleared the Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, who had been suspended by General Musharraf. The channel was initially housed in Haroon House, the head-office of PHPL, but later moved to its current premises in West Wharf, Karachi.

The channel has an online stream available on its website for foreign viewing.

History

The founder of Pakistan, Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah launched the Dawn newspaper in the 1940s- it is the oldest English language newspaper in Pakistan.

The Dawn Media Network launched DawnNews, Pakistan’s first English language news and current affairs television channel, according to DawnNews they vow to "provide its viewers with a medium that is responsible, credible and balanced.

After a brief test transmission, the channel went live on July 23, 2007. Over past three years the channel has established its fame being the most credible voice in the murky pool of electronic media, in Pakistan.

Probably, the most talented and hardworking journalists of present time have been associated with the channel since the beginning. Some of them left to pursue their career in the same profession. Nonetheless, with superb hard-work and dedicated they converted the dream into a reality.

Keeping in view the public demand, DawnNews has decided to launch a separate Urdu news channel. But before launching the separate channel, it has started a three-hour Urdu transmission within its English channel’s airtime. The purpose is to get valuable feedback from the viewers. So far the feedback is tremendous.

DawnNews has broken a number of big stories. It was DawnNews which exclusively broadcast the footage of the assassin of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto. It was DawnNews that got official confirmation from Pakistan that lone surviving gunman of Mumbai terror attacks – Ajmal Kasab – was a Pakistani.

Besides, DawnNews has covered major events including Lal Masjid operation, lawyers’ movement, military operations in tribal areas and 2008 general elections. Most of the time, the channel beat its rivals despite limited resources.

DawnNews transmission is watched in all urban areas of Pakistan. It also has access to the rural population, wherever the cable reaches. DawnNews is in agreement with several satellite TV channels, which include BBC World, Sky News, ABC News and Al-Jazeera and can be watched in the US, Europe, Middle East and Africa. In U.K. it can be accessed through Sky cable at Channel 845.

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