MUMBAI: Channel7, the latest entrant in the Hindi news channel space, has claimed that its news& current affairs show programme 7Special has made an entry in the list of Top 10 news programme.

An official release has quoted Tam ratings for the week 38, C&S Males 15+ Sec ABC in the Hindi speaking markets (HSM), for the time band 2 pm to 4 pm, to assert that the show helped the channel to notch up a channel share of 26.8 per cent ahead of market leader Aaj Tak's 22.4 per cent.

Star News recorded 18.5 per cent, followed by Zee News' 13.5 per cent and NDTV India's 8.9 per cent.

Channel7 COO Piyush Jain says, "Achieving this number 1 position has been the crowning moment in the project's lifecycle. Especially since this wasn't some provocative sting operation, not an exclusive investigation, not a big budget show, but simply a case of quality, compelling coverage of a public domain event, which all competitors were addressing with equal fervour, but the viewers, preferred Channel 7 across the nation."

Jagran Group editor and group CEO Sanjay Gupta says, "The last five weeks have been particularly rewarding as the channel has shown a phenomenal growth rate of almost 80 per cent. A rate that is far higher than the genre growth or that shown by any of the existing players, that too on a healthy viewer base. It's a tribute to our credible content, quality production and international packaging and ability to present exclusive and breaking news regularly."

The official release states that the distribution, widely acknowledged as the Achilles heel of broadcasting industry. has been tackled and Channel7 boasts connectivity into 80 per cent of the north-west-east market, ensuring Channel7 a healthy reach and competitive opportunity to deliver to its viewers compelling content.