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NEW
DELHI: Positiv TV which is the only player to run private
television channels in the North East region, plans to launch
two news channels for Jharkhand and Hyderabad.
The
company, which runs Northeast TV (NE TV), will soon launch
the country's first tribal TV channel called Hamar TV from
Jharkhand.
Owner
and editor-in-chief Manoranjana Sinh told Indiantelevision.com
that the company will first launch Hamar TV, "which will
be India's first all-tribal TV channel," from Jharkhand.
She
added, "The start-up process for Hy TV from Hyderabad
is also in full swing."
Sinh
said that the programming for Hamar TV would be mostly in
tribal languages, rather than just Bhojpuri.
Sinh
said that the license for Hamar TV has already been acquired
and talent scouting process has begun.
This
is part of Sinh's plans to run one TV channel for each of
the eight states of northeast. The company also has intial
public offering (IPO) plans, according to Sinh.
 "You
will be surprised to know that there is much more happening
in tiny little Jharkhand than the much larger Bihar,"
admitting that she had an offer to start up in Bihar but has
not felt encouraged due to various problems.
"There
are channels from Bihar, but all of them have Bhojpuri programming,
and there is an open market for a TV channel with enormous
programming possibilities, with music and culture being the
cornerstone," she said.
Sinh
said that she has also started the process to launch Hy TV,
which would not be a Telugu channel, but meant for the niche
cosmopolitan youth population who want to hear English programming
but from their own state.
Asked
what would be the likely investment, she said that with multiple
channels running, costs would come down because resources
will be shared.
Sinh,
who had fought for close to six years for license to uplink
from North East, since the Union ministry for Home Affairs
felt Assam was a high security risk area, has been running
a vastly popular NE TV since 2002, and has just launched NE
Bangla.
She
also has been running another venture, NE Hi-Fi, which is
a pure entertainment channel. She will possibly rename it
to keep with its image of a music-based channel.
"I
launched NE Bangla because there is a huge Bengali population
who are locals, have been there for generations, but their
cultural, news and other needs are totally different from
what the national Bengali channels like ETV Bangla can provide.
We have been the forerunners because we pay a lot of attention
to content. We have 24/7 news programming and more than 500
stories all day, and we do not have the same short clipping
as breaking news from dawn to dusk, like the national channels,"
she opined.
NE
TV had recently been blacked out by the Assam government because
it exposed a deal in which the government bought peace with
the terrorist organisation Ulfa, so that the National Games
could he hosted freely.
There
was a government order banning NE TV reporters from entering
the games grounds. However, Sinh got a stay from the Supreme
Court and covered the games.
Sikkim
has only recently been included in the northeastern council
and Sinh is now gearing to set up a bureau and move into Sikkim.
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