MUMBAI: With so many news channels being launched all at once, the race will definitely be for- who breaks the news first,sabse aagey, sabse tez and sabse pehle. After the launch of Star News Hindi channel and Headlines Today, the English channel from the TV Today group; all eyes are now on the NDTV news channels' which are scheduled to go on air on 14 April 2003.

Interestingly, NDTV President Prannoy Roy in his online address states that, "I know this is common for news channels all over the world, but for the first time in India we will have a fleet of helicopters exclusive to NDTV -- to ensure we get you the news first, fastest and with the right perspective."

Hinting at what would probably be his channels' cutting edge over other channels, Roy says, "All our anchors are not just newsreaders. Each one of them is an experienced journalist; people who will make sure you get the truth, first."

Both the news channels will air shows like The Big Fight and We The People along with a host of new programmes. Also, another old favourite which will make a comeback is The World This Week, which will look at world events from India's point of view .

NDTV India, the 24-hour Hindi news channel will have anchors like Dibang, Nidhi Kulpati, Abhigyan Prakash, Naghma, Pankaj Pichauri, Sikta Deo, Prasoon Kumar Vajpayee and Rupali Tiwari and sports anchors Sujatha Padmanabhan and Afshan Anjum.

NDTV 24x7, the 24-hour English news channel on the other hand, will have well known journalist-anchors like Rajdeep Sardesai, Barkha Dutt, Vikram Chandra, Sonia Varma, Arnab Goswami, Nidhi Razdan and Srinivasan Jain; business news anchors - Shivnath Thukral, Manvi Sinha, Manisha Natarajan and Chetan Sharma and sports anchor Sonali Chander, to name a few.