luckyyy
SENIOR MEMBER
- Joined
- Sep 23, 2010
- Messages
- 2,337
- Reaction score
- -1
Tue, Nov 2 06:29 AM
The Qatar-based and state-owned broadcast network Al Jazeera is all set to launch its English news channel in India over the next three or four weeks.
After struggling for almost four years to get all necessary government approvals, the channel is now in the last stages of completing all formalities and is likely to begin testing its signals sometime later this month, said sources.
The channel's global managing director, Al Anstey, met several cable operators and other distributors last week in Mumbai to firm up the distribution plan for the channel. While refusing to comment on the exact time of the launch, Anstey said most government approvals had been secured and the channel was all set for its India debut "soon".
"We are in the final stages of completing all the formalities and should be able to launch the channel soon. We have met several cable operators and they are all keen to carry our channel," he said. Sources in the Information and Broadcasting Ministry and some cable operators confirmed the developments.
Al Jazeera has been struggling to get a toehold in the already crowded Indian news market since 2006 when the channel first applied to the I&B Ministry to downlink its global signals in India. The channel has since been running into problems mostly driven by wrong perceptions and some genuine concerns, said Anstey.
The television network attracted international media attention when it exclusively beamed video messages of Osama bin Laden and other leaders of terror group Al Qaeda after the 9/11attacks.
The messages were broadcast on Arabic channel launched in 1996 while the English channel was launched in 2005. The network was yet again in news last month following its reports on classified US documents pertaining to the Iraq war.
The English channel is available in more than 80 countries including markets such as Europe, some pockets of the US, entire Africa, Latin American region and East Asia, according to Anstey, a former British journalist who worked with news organisations such as Reuters, Associated Press Television News and ITN in the UK.
He set up APTN's India office in the mid-nineties and spent over two years in the country. "India is an extremely important market for us given its growing economic and political clout. We want more stories originating from India on our channel along with giving the discerning Indian audience an unbiased, democratic view of the global developments," he said.
In India, Al Jazeera will be competing with global English news channels such CNN and BBC. But Anstey said Al Jazeera has a distinct persona.
"We are different from BBC and CNN in the sense that our news coverage is more democratic and the news flow is not from the west to the east but vice versa." He also said all the wrong perceptions about Al Jazeera will be quashed once the audience had seen the channel.
"Our stories go through a rigorous editorial process. Even the Al Qaeda video tapes that the channel is still remembered for were exhaustively scrutinised before they were put on air."
Together with the Arabic channel, Al Jazeera network claims to have access to over a billion viewers across the world. "With the Arabic channel, we have more than 75 news bureaus in different global destinations, including India."
Al Jazeera's English channel in India soon - Yahoo! India News
The Qatar-based and state-owned broadcast network Al Jazeera is all set to launch its English news channel in India over the next three or four weeks.
After struggling for almost four years to get all necessary government approvals, the channel is now in the last stages of completing all formalities and is likely to begin testing its signals sometime later this month, said sources.
The channel's global managing director, Al Anstey, met several cable operators and other distributors last week in Mumbai to firm up the distribution plan for the channel. While refusing to comment on the exact time of the launch, Anstey said most government approvals had been secured and the channel was all set for its India debut "soon".
"We are in the final stages of completing all the formalities and should be able to launch the channel soon. We have met several cable operators and they are all keen to carry our channel," he said. Sources in the Information and Broadcasting Ministry and some cable operators confirmed the developments.
Al Jazeera has been struggling to get a toehold in the already crowded Indian news market since 2006 when the channel first applied to the I&B Ministry to downlink its global signals in India. The channel has since been running into problems mostly driven by wrong perceptions and some genuine concerns, said Anstey.
The television network attracted international media attention when it exclusively beamed video messages of Osama bin Laden and other leaders of terror group Al Qaeda after the 9/11attacks.
The messages were broadcast on Arabic channel launched in 1996 while the English channel was launched in 2005. The network was yet again in news last month following its reports on classified US documents pertaining to the Iraq war.
The English channel is available in more than 80 countries including markets such as Europe, some pockets of the US, entire Africa, Latin American region and East Asia, according to Anstey, a former British journalist who worked with news organisations such as Reuters, Associated Press Television News and ITN in the UK.
He set up APTN's India office in the mid-nineties and spent over two years in the country. "India is an extremely important market for us given its growing economic and political clout. We want more stories originating from India on our channel along with giving the discerning Indian audience an unbiased, democratic view of the global developments," he said.
In India, Al Jazeera will be competing with global English news channels such CNN and BBC. But Anstey said Al Jazeera has a distinct persona.
"We are different from BBC and CNN in the sense that our news coverage is more democratic and the news flow is not from the west to the east but vice versa." He also said all the wrong perceptions about Al Jazeera will be quashed once the audience had seen the channel.
"Our stories go through a rigorous editorial process. Even the Al Qaeda video tapes that the channel is still remembered for were exhaustively scrutinised before they were put on air."
Together with the Arabic channel, Al Jazeera network claims to have access to over a billion viewers across the world. "With the Arabic channel, we have more than 75 news bureaus in different global destinations, including India."
Al Jazeera's English channel in India soon - Yahoo! India News
Al Jazeera had been exaggerating many things viz a viz Pakistan and Islamic world.
