Sumantha Rathore
Media

BCCL to launch Bengali newspaper in September

Tentatively titled Amaar Shomaay (My Times), the daily will be launched later this year.

Bennett Coleman and Co (BCCL) is gearing up to launch a Bengali newspaper from West Bengal. The daily is tentatively titled Amaar Shomaay (My Times) and is expected to be launched in the second half of September, according to the sources close to the development.

BCCL to launch Bengali newspaper in September
As per the sources, the company plans to introduce the new daily only from Kolkata as of now. The new entrant will be launched to give direct competition to Anandabazar Patrika (ABP), the leading daily of the state. There was no official confirmation about the same.

It is expected that BCCL will resort to price slash strategy and come up with a low priced variant. It is believed that the paper will be priced somewhere between Rs 2 and Rs 3, similar to that of Aaj Kal and Pratidin, as against ABP's cover price of Rs 5 per copy.

Amaar Shomaay will be an all-colour newspaper, whose content mix will be on the lines of The Times of India, different from ABP's approach - which has a tilt towards opinion-based coverage.

As per the sources, "The latest entrant will aim to give Kolkata a new experience in the newspaper industry here. There is a lot of scope for the loyalty of the readers towards a particular paper to be challenged in this market."

This is not the first time that TOI has launched a local language offering in West Bengal; the group already has two Bengali magazines titled Aamar Somoy, a general interest magazine and Ami Udita, a women's monthly magazine.

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