Indian English-language news television channel
Television channel
CNN-News18 (also known as Cable News Network News18 and originally CNN-IBN) is an Indian English-language news television channel founded by Raghav Bahl based in Noida, Uttar Pradesh, India. It is currently co-owned by TV18 and Warner Bros. Discovery.[1] CNN provides international coverage for the channel, while Indian Broadcasting Network concentrates on Indian and local reports.[2]
In May 2014, Reliance Industries announced it would be taking over Network18. The move was touted as "the biggest-ever deal in the Indian media space".[3] Reliance Industries already had indirect control of the TV18 network by virtue of investments it made in Network18 starting from January 2012.[4][5]
The channel has been accused by activists of supporting the ideology of the ruling Modi government.[6][7]
History
CNN International only reached the urban population in India. To reach the Indian masses Turner Broadcasting System together with an Indian company, Global Broadcast News (currently TV18 Broadcast Limited), launched the channel in India as CNN-IBN on 18 December 2005. The channel was completely run by TV18 Broadcast Limited, which only used the Cable News Network (CNN) brand name.[8]
Currently, Time Warner's India-specific CNN-News18 is watched by more people than its CNN International sister network, although both channels are in English.[8]
According to Network 18, since its inception, the channel has been reaching out to an average of 45 million households every day.[9]
In 2015, it was announced that a licensing agreement between Turner Broadcasting and Network 18 had not been renewed and would expire in January 2016.[10][11][12]
On 1 December 2015, it was announced the brand licensing had been renewed for another term.[13]
On 18 April 2016, at 7:57pm, it was rebranded as CNN-News18, and began using the slogan "On Your Side."[14]
Notable events
Commonwealth Games Contract
On 5 August 2011 Comptroller and Auditor General of India's report on 2010 Commonwealth Games was tabled in Parliament of India. In section 14.4.2 of the report, CAG alleged that while awarding contracts worth Rs 37.8 million for production & broadcasting of commercials for promoting CWG-2010 to CNN-IBN & NDTV, the Commonwealth Games Organising Committee followed an arbitrary approach. Proposals were considered in an ad hoc manner, as and when a proposal was received; no form of competitive tendering was adopted. The CAG further said in its report that, "We had no assurance about the competitiveness of the rates quoted by these channels and the need and usefulness of these proposals. From March 2010 to June 2010, the entire pre-games publicity and sponsorship publicity was done only on NDTV & CNN-IBN."[23][24][25]
A controversy about some fake Twitter comments that ran on the screen during a news show raised questions about the reliability of instant feedback from viewers, which was criticised. The officials later apologised, saying that the source of viewer comments was wrongly stated as Twitter.[26]
Fake live debate
In November 2012, on its prime time show Face The Nation, the channel broadcast a pre-recorded and edited interview of Ravi Shankar, falsely presenting it as a live television debate. The show was hosted by the deputy editor of the channel, Sagarika Ghose, the wife of the channel's editor, Rajdeep Sardesai. On public outcry, the anchor issued a public apology on Twitter, web and TV.[28] The episode has not been hosted on the show's homepage.[29]
Crew firings
In August 2013, TV18 fired nearly 400 people from their various offices including CNN-IBN as a part of restructuring. The company declined to further comment on the issue.[4]
