59 Facts About NDTV

1.

NDTV is considered to be a legacy brand that pioneered independent news broadcasting in India, and is credited for launching the first 24x7 news channel and the first lifestyle channel in the country.

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2.

NDTV is under a hostile takeover attempt by Gautam Adani, a billionaire with close ties to the Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

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3.

NDTV was founded in 1984, by economist Prannoy Roy and journalist Radhika Roy, a husband and wife duo from the city of Kolkata.

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4.

NDTV launched the first 24x7 news channel in partnership with Star India in 1998.

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5.

Between 1998 and 2003, NDTV was in an exclusive agreement with Star India to produce all of their news segments.

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6.

NDTV has had business interests in general entertainment and e-commerce, and is part of the management of a number of broadcast channels including the lifestyle channel NDTV Good Times, the infotainment channel Astro Awani and the news channel Independent Television through various joint ventures.

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7.

NDTV began operation as a production house of news segments for the public broadcaster Doordarshan and international satellite news channels.

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8.

The first election result telecast produced by NDTV was that of the 1989 Indian general election, which was the first televised live coverage of an election result in India, it employed hot-lines across the country and featured visual graphics, discussions and debates.

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9.

The format developed by NDTV was contrasted with the simple official announcements publicised by Doordarshan in previous elections and was adopted as a template by news broadcasters over the following decades.

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10.

The terms of agreement between Doordarshan and NDTV were modified in the same year and the company began paying a fee for its weekly slot instead of being a contractor under the public broadcaster.

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11.

In 1993, CNN began collaborating with NDTV to produce select coverage for the weekly news bulletin.

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12.

In 1995, NDTV presented a proposal to Doordarshan to move its production to a daily half hourly news bulletin on the second Doordarshan channel DD Metro.

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13.

NDTV began producing shows such as The News Hour and Good Morning India for Doordarshan.

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14.

In 1998, NDTV entered into five-year contract with Rupert Murdoch's Star Network.

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15.

Under the terms of the agreement, NDTV would produce all news content for the network, while News Television India would finance the endeavor.

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16.

The CEO of Star India had stated that NDTV was an obvious choice for a partnership due its recognition and infrastructure.

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17.

NDTV productions were slotted on two 9:00 pm news bulletins in the channels of Star Plus and Star World.

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18.

Under the agreement, the profits belonged to Star News and NDTV was paid a fee which began with US$10 million under an escalation clause and reserved intellectual property rights over its productions.

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19.

NDTV kept producing news segments for Star News till 31 March 2003.

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20.

NDTV had acquired equity capital from investment banks including Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs.

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21.

NDTV India was a Hindi language news channel and NDTV 24x7 was an English language news channel.

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22.

Under the terms of agreement, NDTV instituted the infrastructure for the channel and Astro undertook the production.

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23.

In 2007, NDTV began diversifying into the general entertainment and lifestyle broadcasting industry.

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24.

NDTV Lifestyle entered into an agreement with the United Breweries Group for a branding tie-up between the Kingfisher lager and NDTV Good Times.

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25.

In January 2008, NDTV entered into a strategic partnership with the American mass media conglomerate NBCUniversal, in an attempt to expand into the general entertainment industry in India.

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26.

NDTV entered into a partnership with the national daily newspaper The Hindu, under the joint venture MetroNation Chennai to launched the Chennai-centric English language news channel which was named NDTV Hindu.

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27.

NDTV had an ongoing open offer for buyback of shares and the stock prices at the Bombay Stock Exchange nosedived from around ?400 to ?100 which added a large shortfall.

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28.

NDTV made a series of divestments of its assets through a number of sales in the following period.

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29.

NDTV had launched a Dubai based English and Hindi language news channel called NDTV Arabia, targeting Indian expatriates in 2007, which was closed down in 2009.

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30.

NDTV was one of the few news broadcasting companies which had a codified code of conduct for its journalistic output.

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31.

The Sunday Guardian, a newspaper owned by politicians M J Akbar and Ram Jethmalani published a 2010 article which alleged that NDTV had colluded with ICICI Bank and indulged in financial misdemeanours.

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32.

The stake sale of NDTV Lifestyle resulted in the net valuation of the subsidiary to be US$80 million.

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33.

In 2015, the business news channel NDTV Profit became a hybrid channel featuring both business news programs during day and entertainment programs under the name NDTV Prime on weekends and after 6pm.

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34.

In contrast, the digital media arm of the company, NDTV Convergence had entered a phase of exponential growth.

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35.

NDTV Convergence had synchronised the network's newsgathering with its internet and mobile presence.

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36.

NDTV launched the e-commerce venture Indianroots through its subsidiary NDTV Ethnic Retail in 2013.

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37.

On 25 July 2012, NDTV moved a lawsuit for over US$1,000 million against the TAM Media Research for manipulation of data at the New York Supreme Court.

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38.

In 2016, the Hindi language news channel NDTV India was banned by the government on allegations that the channel had threatened national security.

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39.

NDTV subsequently appealed against the ban at the Supreme Court of India.

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40.

In 2017, NDTV instituted a turnaround plan and announced that the company would undergo a restructuring process, intending to concentrate on core assets of news broadcasting and its digital teams operating its apps and websites, while cutting down on ancillary assets including its e-commerce business.

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41.

NDTV Profit was pulled off air on 5 June 2017, and converted into an infotainment channel solely under the designation of NDTV Prime.

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42.

The business news segment of NDTV Profit was moved to the English language news channel NDTV 24x7.

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43.

In 2018, NDTV Convergence completed a sale with Wedding Junction Private Ltd and sold off Special Occasion Ltd, which operated the wedding arrangements portal BandBaajaa.

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44.

The raid had come a day after an NDTV presenter had engaged in an argument with a spokesperson of the ruling party.

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45.

In 2022, NDTV pulled out of the ratings agency BARC as it was not satisfied with the changes introduced in the calculation of TV rating after the TRP scam expose.

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46.

Takeover bid had come as a surprise to the Roys and NDTV released a statement that Adani Group had neither notified or consulted them nor did the acquisition have their consent.

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47.

NDTV operates three broadcast channels which includes two news channels and one infotainment channel.

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48.

NDTV has a stake three more channels which are managed through joint ventures.

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49.

English language news channel NDTV 24x7 is considered to be the first 24x7 news channel in India, being a successor to Star News which was founded by NDTV and Star India.

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50.

Hindi language news channel NDTV India is a national news channel and has widespread viewership in India.

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51.

Infotainment channel NDTV Prime was known as an innovation for being part of a two in one hybrid channel with NDTV Profit, with the same channel providing business news in daytime during weekdays under the designation of Profit and information and entertainment at other times under the designation of Prime.

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52.

NDTV has two joint ventures where it manages the broadcast infrastructure of the infotainment channel Astro Awani in Southeast Asia and manages the news channel Independent Television with BEXIMCO in Bangladesh.

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53.

Subsidiary NDTV Convergence was set up as the digital branch of the company, and manages all its digital properties including its websites, apps and social media assets.

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54.

NDTV has an exclusive partnership for advertisements on and content recommendations for NDTV's digital assets with the Israeli advertising company Taboola.

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55.

NDTV Convergence is considered as an international news channel of the company with its output available to audiences outside India.

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56.

NDTV operates a number of separate web portals including one that is managed through a subsidiary called SmartyCooky, which operates the food portal under the designation of NDTV Food.

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57.

NDTV is noted for its stock options available to its employees and a consequent high distribution of wealth among its employees, with around 24.

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58.

NDTV was one of the first companies in India to make an independent foray in the media industry.

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59.

NDTV was founded at a time when a few private operators were permitted on the official broadcast channels, and initially recruited journalists with bureaucratic connections.

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