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Rajdeep, TV18 form entity for news channel
Sardesai is now teaming up with Television Eighteen (TV-18) to launch a general news channel later this year.
After an 11-year association with Prannoy Roy's New Delhi Television (NDTV), star anchor Rajdeep Sardesai is now teaming up with Television Eighteen (TV-18) to launch a general news channel later this year.
"The launch date for the news channel is tentatively slated for either August 15 or Diwali (Nov 1). TV-18 is seeking an enabling provision to raise $50 million that could be used for the new venture in which they would have a majority stake," a source close to the development said.
"Finer details of the project like a stake for Rajdeep and his associates in the new channel are currently being worked out. We hope these details will be firmed up over the next 15 days," the source added.
TV-18, promoted by Raghav Bahl, was tight-lipped about the developments that have been the talk of the media world in the last few weeks.
"I have no comments to offer at this stage," TV-18 chief executive Haresh Chawla told IANS.
Sardesai, who was managing editor of NDTV, and Sameer Manchanda, the news organisation's chief financial officer, resigned last Friday to team up with TV-18 to launch a new general news channel.
"I hope to launch a journalist-driven news channel," Sardesai said, but declined to comment on the financial aspects of his new venture. Sardesai would be the editor-in-chief of the new channel.
TV-18 is presently associated with CNBC India and Awaaz - both business news channels telecast in English and Hindi respectively. Bahl has promoted another channel that caters to the Indian diaspora in the US and Britain.
TV-18 went public in 1999. On April 13 it informed the Bombay Stock Exchange that it will seek permission from shareholders to raise $50 million from international markets for its expansion plans.
