Delhi-based Sadhna News, which runs a Madhya Pradesh-Chattisgarh centric 24-hour Hindi news channel, is set to launch another regional news channel in Hindi centered on Bihar-Jharkhand on December 20. This will be the third Bihar-centric channel after Sahara Samay Bihar and ETV Bihar.
Elaborating on their plans, Prabhat Dabral, Executive Director, Sadhna News, told exchange4media that they had already hired Shashi Ranjan to head this channel. Ranjan was formerly heading Sahara Samay Bihar channel and also had been the Patna Bureau Chief of Zee News.
“In order to beef up coverage from the Bihar-Jharkhand region, we are setting up seven bureaus there, including in Patna and Ranchi. These bureaus will be connected live with our news hub in Noida through V-Sat connection,” Dabral informed.
Meanwhile, Sadhna News Madhya Pradesh-Chattisgarh claims to have successfully established itself both in terms of TRPs and ad revenue.
Dabral claimed, “In barely three months of the launch, we have already attained a channel share of 6.2 per cent as against the 9 per cent share of Sahara Samay MP, which has been around for nearly five years. We have also been able to break even.”
The launch of Sadhna News Bihar-Jharkhand in December would be followed by the launch of Sadhna News Uttar Pradesh-Uttrakhand by the end of January 2009.
