Zee News goes FTA
May 9, 2016
By Chris Forrester
Zee News, owned ultimately by Subhash Chandra’s Essel Group, is switching from a pay-TV distribution model to free-to-view transmission.
Zee News is the flagship Hindi-language channel of Zee Media Corp, and was launched in 1999 and is frequently rated as India’s most watched Hindi news broadcaster. Zee Media runs another 9 news channels, some national and others local in various languages.
Subhash Chandra is also behind the planned launch of an English-language news service, Wion (World is One News) later this summer, and “covering global news and events from a South Asian perspective”.
Rohit Gandhi, editor-in-chief — English news broadcast and related content, ZMCL, said in March; “With Wion, we will meet the aspirations of 2 billion South Asians by delivering a global news network that reflects a South Asian world perspective. It’s high time for South Asian reporting from the front lines, war zones, and prominent global capitals.”
Gandhi further adds, “While a TV channel is the face of this mobile-first start-up, our newsgathering, reporting, production, and publishing processes are an ambitious leap into a multi-screen future. We aim to disrupt conventional ways of thinking about news and set a new template for storytelling across platforms.”