By Ankit Ajmera
Media

Times to launch business TV channel in third quarter of 2008

Rahul Joshi, executive editor, The Economic Times, will head the project till its launch

Times Global Broadcasting, which owns the English news channel, Times Now, is likely to launch its business news channel in the third quarter of 2008. The launch of the business channel comes almost three years after the launch of Times Now.

Times Global Broadcasting is yet to announce a business editor for the channel. However, Rahul Joshi, executive editor, The Economic Times, has been given the additional responsibility of heading the project till its launch.

Sources inform agencyfaqs! that in his new role, Joshi will work closely with Chintamani Rao, chief executive officer, to put together a competent team, shape and design the content, and help create an overall differentiated offering. The business channel aims to leverage on the influence, market dominance and thought leadership of The Economic Times.

Times to launch business TV channel in third quarter of 2008
The channel aims to cut away from the clutter and position itself as a channel that creates value for investors or anyone who consumes business news. A source close to the development says, “The existing business channels are either concentrating too much on the stock markets or blindly following the leader. Some of them don’t even have a defined news positioning. Hopefully, the new business channel from Times Global Broadcasting will be able to address the viewers with enriched content and create a differentiated offering in the market.”

Recently, a team has been put in place to design the content for the new channel. The team is also looking aggressively to hire people.

agencyfaqs! had reported earlier that apart from the business news channel, the Times Group is looking to launch three speciality genre channels by 2008-09. One of the channels will be dedicated to Bollywood news and will be launched by the middle of 2008. The other two channels will be launched by the end of 2008 or the beginning of 2009.

Another media house, UTV, is also expected to launch its business TV channel by April 2008, but the launch date has not been confirmed as yet.

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