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Republic TV is an Indian television news channel. It is owned by ARG Outlier Asianet News, a company promoted by Arnab Goswami. It was launched on 6 May 2017.

History

Arnab Goswami, then Editor-in-Chief of an English news channel Times Now, resigned from the channel on 1 November 2016. On 14 November, he hosted his flagship show The Newshour Debate for the last time .

On 16 December, he announced of his coming up with a new venture, a news channel called Republic. However, in January 2017, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Subramanian Swamy wrote to the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting that the name Republic was in violation of Emblems and Names (Prevention of improper use) Act 1950. As a result, the name changed to Republic TV and the same was communicated to the Ministry by Goswami through a letter.

Republic TV is a part of ARG Outlier Media Private Ltd., which was primarily funded by Rajeev Chandrasekhar, a Bharatiya Janata Party member of parliament in the Rajya Sabha and the vice-chairman of the Kerala wing of the National Democratic Alliance . Through companies owned by him, he invested ₹30 crore (US$3.5 million) in it. Among other major investors were Goswami and his wife, educationist Ramdas Pai, Ramakanta Panda, all of whom invested through SARG Media Holding Private Ltd, another company owned by Goswami himself. He later resigned from the board on 31 March 2018, after officially switching allegiance to BJP, as a MP.

S. Sundaram, who had served as the CFO for Times Now between 2005 and 2012, was named the Group CFO for Republic TV. Others who joined included senior anchor and Deputy Assignment Editor of Tamil news channel Thanthi TV, S. A. Hariharan; retired army officer and television personality Major Gaurav Arya, former chief correspondent from Jammu and Kashmir for Times Now Aditya Raj Kaul, writer and founder-editor of Gentleman and Business Barons, Minhaz Merchant and actor Anupam Kher. Chief Business Officer of Reliance Broadcast Network Vikas Khanchandani was made the CEO, co-founder of The News Minute Chitra Subramaniam the editorial adviser.

The channel was launched on 6 May 2017 as a free-to-air channel through most DTH services and cable television operators, alongside mobile platforms such as JioTV and Hotstar. Reporting on its launch, Business Standard wrote, "The company has already hired 300 people, of whom 215 are on board. A state-of-the-art-studio is being built in Mumbai's Lower Parel area."

Reception

Viewership ratings

Republic TV became the most-watched English news channel in India in its first week of airing with 2.11 million impressions and accounted for 51.9 per cent viewership as per data released for the week by the Broadcast Audience Research Council..

In May 2017, the News Broadcasters Association (NBA) lodged a complaint with the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) accusing the group of using unethical tactics to claim a high viewership. It claimed that the channel ran multiple feeds on various multi-system operator (MSO) platforms. The complaint added that the channel listed itself at multiple locations across various genres in the electronic program guide of various MSOs and other distributors on multiple logical channel numbers (LCNs), which supposedly violated the TRAI rules for unique genre and a unique LCN. The TRAI determined the numbers to be inflated and ruled in favour of NBA issuing a mandate against future use of multiple LCNs.

Criticism

The channel was subject to criticism by certain sections of the media which accused it of biased, opinionated and judgmental reporting. Some also called out its style of reporting "loud" and "noisy".

Controversies

In May 2017, Bennett Coleman & Co. Ltd. (BCCL) lodged a complaint against Goswami and Prema Sridevi, a journalist with Republic TV, under the Indian Penal Code and Information Technology Act, 2000 accusing them of copyright infringement. BCCL alleged that the two, previously employed with Times Now, that it owns and operates, had used its intellectual property (IP) in telecasting certain audio tapes that were in their possession during their time at the former Channel. Alongside IP infringement, the complaint also alleged the commission of offences of theft, criminal breach of trust and misappropriation of property, on the two, on multiple occasions days after the channel's launch.

Also that month, parliamentarian Shashi Tharoor filed a civil defamation case in the Delhi High Court against Goswami and Republic TV in connection with the channel's broadcast of news items from 8 to 13 May claiming his link in his wife Sunanda Pushkar's death in 2014. Seeking the channel's response, Justice Manmohan of the High Court said, "Bring down the rhetoric. You can put out your story, you can put out the facts. You cannot call him names. That is uncalled for."

In August 2018, the News Broadcasting Standards Authority (NBSA) issued a notice to Republic TV to display a full-screen apology during a broadcast over its derogatory remarks directed at one A. Singh, who was alleged to have harassed a female reporter of the channel at a political rally. Epithets such as "vulgar thug", "lewd", "sexist", "pervert", "goon" and "anti-Indian" were directed at him on a show that the NBSA stated were "unwarranted, unjustified and in violation of broadcasting standards".

See also

• Media in India
• List of news channels in India

References

1. "Rajeev Chandrasekhar resigns from Asianet's board".
2. "Arnab Goswami's new venture". Business Standard. Retrieved 8 January 2017.
3. "Arnab Goswami announces new venture; Times Now gets a new chief editor". Firstpost. Retrieved 8 January 2017.
4. "Arnab Goswami has announced his new venture 'Republic'". The Indian Express.
5. "Arnab Goswami changes channel name to Republic TV, gives in to Subramanian Swamy". Firstpost. 31 January 2017. Archived from the original on 9 May 2017. Retrieved 9 May 2017.
6. "What the Nation Wants to Know but Arnab's Republic Won't Tell You". The Quint. Retrieved 2 September 2018.
7. ^ "Rajeev Chandrasekhar resigns as board director of Republic TV, says decision taken as he is now BJP MP - Firstpost". www.firstpost.com. Retrieved 2 September 2018.
8. Kaushik, Krishn (13 January 2017). "Kerala NDA vice-chairman Rajeev Chandrasekhar investor, director in Arnab Goswami's Republic". The Indian Express. Retrieved 27 April 2017.
9. "S Sundaram joins Republic as CFO". exchange4media.com. 23 February 2017. Archived from the original on 1 March 2017. Retrieved 27 April 2017.
10. "Arnab's Republic adds S.A.Hariharan from Thanthi TV to its Editorial team". tvnews4u.com. 27 February 2017. Archived from the original on 27 April 2017. Retrieved 27 April 2017.
11. "Major Gaurav Arya collaborates with Arnab's Republic TV". newslaundry.com. 15 March 2017. Retrieved 27 April 2017.
12. "Minhaz Merchant on Twitter". Twitter. Retrieved 15 April 2017.
13. Sen, Rajyasree (24 May 2017). "Anupam Kher's People a welcome break from the screaming jingoism of Republic TV". Livemint. Retrieved 24 May 2017.
14. "Arnab Goswami's Republic first Indian news channel to air live on Hotstar". Business Standard. 5 May 2017. Retrieved 6 May 2017.
15. Kohli-Khandekar, Vanita (6 May 2017). "Arnab Goswami's Republic TV went live today; but why so much fuss over it?". Business Standard. Retrieved 6 May 2017.
16. Ahluwalia, Harveen (18 May 2017). "Arnab Goswami's Republic TV topples Times Now in debut week: Barc data". Livemint. Retrieved 18 May 2017.
17. "Republic TV has 51.9% viewership in debut week: BARCH gives data to paid subs despite NBAs request". indiantelevision.com. Archived from the original on 18 May 2017. Retrieved 18 May 2017.
18. Agarwal, Nikhil (15 May 2017). "Arnab Goswami's Republic TV uses unethical tactics to push viewership, NBA petitions TRAI". India Today. Retrieved 17 May 2017.
19. Ahluwalia, Harveen (16 May 2017). "Arnab Goswami's Republic TV flouting rules, says NBA in Trai complaint". Livemint. Retrieved 17 May 2017.
20. "TRAI rules against Republic TV's unethical distribution practices to boost ratings". The Times of India. 2 June 2017. Retrieved 3 June 2017.
21. Bajpai, Shailaja (11 May 2017). "On the run". The Indian Express. Retrieved 17 May 2017.
22. Kohli-Khandekar, Vanita (8 May 2017). "Arnab's Republic a reflection of what India has become- noisy and chaotic". Business Standard. Retrieved 17 May 2017.
23. "Arnab Goswami's Republic TV is losing the battle of babble; why not try something completely different?". Firstpost. 27 May 2017. Retrieved 28 May 2017.
24. ScoopWhoop (13 January 2017). "Revealed! Here's Who Are Funding Arnab Goswami's 'Republic'". ScoopWhoop. Retrieved 19 May 2018.
25. "Times Now files criminal case for stealing against Arnab Goswami of Republic TV". The Economic Times. 17 May 2017. Retrieved 17 May 2017.
26. "Arnab Goswami faces police complaint for 'cheating' Times Now over Sunanda Pushkar, Lalu tapes". Daily News and Analysis. 17 May 2017. Retrieved 17 May 2017.
27. "Times Group files criminal complaint against Arnab Goswami for IPR breach". Business Standard. Retrieved 18 May 2017.
28. "Congress leader Shashi Tharoor files defamation case against Republic TV's Arnab Goswami". Indian Express. 26 May 2017.
29. "Shashi Tharoor files defamation suit against Arnab Goswami, Republic TV in High Court". The Economic Times. 26 May 2017.
30. "'Bring down the rhetoric', Delhi HC tells Arnab Goswami, Republic TV". The Hindu. 29 May 2017. Retrieved 3 June 2017.
31. "NBSA asks Republic TV for full-screen apology". The Economic Times. 4 September 2018. Retrieved 28 January 2019.
32. Staff, Scroll (4 September 2018). "Republic TV ordered to apologise for Arnab Goswami's remarks by broadcasting standards authority". Scroll.in. Retrieved 28 January 2019.
33. "No Apology From Republic TV's Arnab Goswami For Misreporting Despite NBSA Order". The Wire. 7 September 2018. Retrieved 28 January 2019.

External links

• Official website

• 24-hour television news channels in India
• Companies based in Mumbai
• Indian companies established in 2017
• English-language television stations in India
• Television channels and stations established in 2017