NDTV has big Mumbai plans

The Prannoy Roy-promoted New Delhi Television is embarking upon a major expansion of news coverage in Mumbai, which will now be a national news hub, parallel to New Delhi.

In line with this, anchors from New Delhi -- Srinivasan Jain, Abhigyan Prakash, Shivnath Thukral, Nikhunj Dalmia, Barnali Mukherjee, Radhika Bordia and Sonali Verma -- have been shifted to Mumbai. Jain, it is understood, will head Mumbai operations.

NDTV now plans to produce and directly telecast specialised bulletins throughout the day from Mumbai.

This would then culminate in two prime time newscasts, one in Hindi and the other in English, to integrate Mumbai into the national news.

It is also understood from industry sources that throughout the day, NDTV will telecast business news including stock market specials, a Metro show, a crime watch, entertainment and Bollywood news from Mumbai. Company officials were not available for comment on the expansion plans.

According to sources, NDTV in Mumbai will be using a new technology to broadcast a half-hour Marathi show meant only for viewers in major cities such as Pune and Nagpur and the rest of Maharashtra.

This technology is expected to be used to produce more Mumbai-specific programming such as traffic and weather updates later.

Until now, Mumbai had one of NDTV's more important bureaus. NDTV is also understood to have increased its staff strength from the current 45 to almost 100 in Mumbai.

Industry sources and media analysts say that the new focus on Mumbai could be meant to take on the standalone Star News channel which will also go live on April 1.

The new Star News channel has also shifted its focus to Mumbai and has made Mumbai its headquarters for news.