Times Now

Times Now
Launched 23 January 2006
Owned by The Times Group
Picture format 4:3 (576i, SDTV)
16:9 (1080i, HDTV)
Slogan "Action Begins Here"
Language English
Broadcast area India, Singapore, Malaysia and USA
Headquarters Mumbai, India
Sister channel(s) Zoom
ET Now
Movies Now
Website www.timesnow.tv
Availability
Satellite
Airtel digital TV (India) Channel 304
Big TV (India) Channel 453
Dish Network (USA) Channel 652
Dish TV (India) Channel 606
Tata Sky (India) Channel 507
Videocon d2h (India) Channel 353
Astro (Malaysia) Channel 503 (HD) (Coming Soon)
CanalSat (Mauritius) Channel 147
Cable
ABNXcess (Malaysia) Channel 206 (SD)
StarHub TV (Singapore) Channel 167 (SD) (Coming Soon)
IPTV
mio TV (Singapore) Channel 676 (SD) (1st Nov)

Times Now is a 24-hour English news channel in India. It is owned and operated by The Times Group. Times Now was the first news channel in India to be launched on mobile screens (Reliance Infocomm Network). It is now one of the Global Partners with Twitter. The channel also has a Consultant cum Strategic Affairs Expert, Maroof Raza. He apart from his appearances on news debates, has anchored and presented a 20-part series on the Indian armed forces, titled ‘Line of Duty’. An episode from this series, on the Siachin Glacier won an Award in the military documentary section at the Film Festival in Rome in 2005. This TV series has entered the “Limca Book of Records” as India’s first military reality show.[1][2]

History

The channel was launched in 2006 by Times Global Broadcasing Company Limited, a joint-venture of The Times Group (Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd.) and Reuters. Sunil Lulla was hired from the Sony Entertainment Television to be the CEO. In 2008, Reuters exited the venture by selling back its 25.82 percent stake in Times Global to BCCL.[3]

Journalist associated

Arnab Goswami is the Editor-in-Chief and News anchor of Times Now.[4]

Hector Kenneth is the director, News Operations of Times Now. Although he had been a journalist for many years, he came into prominence for his reports from Gaza. Hector began his career in sports but is now heading the news division in TIMES NOW.

Maroof Raza is consultant and strategic affairs expert on Times Now.[5]

Awards and recognition

Distribution

Times Now along with the other Times group channels (Zoom, ET Now and Movies Now) is distributed by Media Network and Distribution (India) Ltd (MNDIL), which is a joint venture between The Times group and Yogesh Radhakrishnan, a cable & satellite industry veteran, under the brand Prime Connect.[9]

Controversy

The channel was censured by the News Broadcasters Association by an order dated 19.10.11 for its telecast on May 20, 2011 described as a debate show titled "Will Kanimozhi turn approver?". According to the Authority, "the debate on the issue and, especially the stress by the anchor, on a particular point of view was unwarranted and did not amount to neutral and balanced reporting of any Court proceedings". The Authority further observed that "the debate on the issue and especially the manner in which it was conducted by the anchor (the Editor-in-Chief of the said channel), violated both the letter and the spirit of Guidelines 3 & 4 of the Specific Guidelines for reporting court proceedings.

Times Now is also blamed by Aam Aadmi Party for allegedly showing news which portrayed Arvind Kejriwal and his Aam Aadmi Party in a negative sense for which AAP threatened jail for "paid media".[10] Later Editor Guilds of India and BEA thrashed AAP for blatant disrespect of press freedom.[11]

The editor-in-chief, Arnab Goswami is often criticized for his aggressive and confrontational attitude towards guests. He has drawn comparisons from Fox News' popular anchor, Bill O'Reilly.

Times Now reported Karnataka High Court granted bail to Jayalalithaa Former Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu even before the Judgement was given. When the Judgement was given, High court of Karnataka rejected the bail application of Jayalaithaa.

On March 26 2015, Times Now reported some harsh comments against the Indian Cricket Team on losing the Semi-Final Game in the World Cup 2015 against Australia following which Times Now and it's Editor In Chief Arnab Goswami were criticized by the Indian audience at large on social media. The hash tag #ShameOnTimesNow [12] quickly became one of the world wide top trending topic on Twitter that day.

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Maroof Raza". Maroof Raza. Retrieved 2012-07-11.
  2. ↑ "Fast n Furious". CaraVan Magazine. Retrieved December 1, 2012.
  3. ↑ "Reuters To Sell Its Stake In Times Global Broadcasting To BCCL".
  4. ↑ http://www.theguardian.com/world/2008/dec/12/mumbai-arundhati-roy
  5. ↑ http://archive.indianexpress.com/news/times-now-censured-for-not-revealing-defence-analyst-s-business-interests/1051671/
  6. ↑ ENBA Awards
  7. ↑ "ENBA 2012: NDTV sweeps awards; Times Now is News Channel of the Year". exchange4media.com. September 3, 2012. Retrieved 2012-09-03.
  8. ↑ "ENBA: Top awards for TIMES NOW". exchange4media.com. Sep 14, 2012. Retrieved 2012-09-14.
  9. ↑ "BCCL floats TV distribution joint venture".
  10. ↑ http://www.nbanewdelhi.com/images/upload/website-matter-times-now.pdf
  11. ↑ http://www.newsx.com/national/top-stories/item/19292-comments-from-arvind-kejriwal-are-irresponsible-says-bea-ashutosh-hits-back
  12. ↑ https://twitter.com/hashtag/ShameOnTimesNow