MUMBAI: India’s top English news anchor Arnab Goswami has quit as president and editor-in-chief of Times Now and ET Now, the English news channels owned by Times Network.
Being the main face of genre leader Times Now, Arnab’s exit will be closely watched by the other English news broadcasters such as TV Today Network and NDTV. He is set to start a new venture in the TV news space itself, along with a digital footprint.
As Arnab says, the “game has just begun”. Ending an era of dominance which saw Times Now unchallenged at the top, Arnab’s new move will be closely watched. Arnab had brought in a new style of news presentation, marked by shrill and noise. Primetime news debates became highly opinionated.
His new twist of TV-nationalism came to the forefront when tensions rose high between India and Pakistan. Arnab revealed about his exit to Times Now employees at a meeting with his editorial staff. However, there is no official comment yet about the development either from Times Network or Arnab. There are several rumours doing the rounds. One rumour is that Arnab is teaming up with serial entrepreneur Rajeev Chandrasekhar and Rupert Murdoch’s 21st Century Fox to start an English news channel.
This, however, could not be independently confirmed by TelevisionPost.com. Chandrasekhar and Star India had earlier shared a relationship when Murdoch’s company had bought a majority stake in Asianet Communications. Chandrasekhar had bought a stake in Asianet through his Jupiter Entertainment Ventures. It is not certain if Star India, the wholly owned subsidiary of 21st Century Fox, would be interested to return to TV news unless the cap on foreign direct investment (FDI) further eases.
Unhappy with the ceiling on FDI, Star had exited the TV news business in India. Even after the government hiked the cap from 26% to 49%, the Murdoch-controlled company did not show any interest in re-entering the TV news media business. Another rumour is about Arnab being roped in by Mukesh Ambani who owns TV18 Broadcast. When Ambani said that he had watched Goswami’s show and “liked him quite a bit”, it was speculated that India’s most popular TV news anchor would move to TV18 Broadcast.
Arnab’s next destination may not be in the existing TV news brands. NDTV, for instance, follows a style of journalism that is totally different from Arnab’s. What, however, seems certain at this stage is that Goswami will be in TV news business and could own stake, and that the new venture will have a digital presence.
Arnab has been with Times Now for almost a decade and has been the single biggest force behind its success. Arnab told his team members on Tuesday that he will remain in TV news. He also said that independent news media is going to thrive in future. Without revealing much about his future plans, Arnab said that the “game has just begun”.
Arnab is planning to start his own media venture which will span TV and digital. He had recently returned from his vacation in the Maldives. Arnab’s exit will prove to be a setback for Times Now. Launched on 23 January 2006, Times Now has been built around Arnab. His aggressive form of journalism has ensured that Times Now remains the No. 1 English news channel week after week. It has been the top for many years now.
The channel, which was struggling to grab eyeballs in the initial years, had struck a chord with the viewers for its coverage of the 26/11 terrorist attack in Mumbai. Ever since, there had been no looking back for Arnab and the channel. In the subsequent years, the channel sustained its viewership by championing Indian cause whether it was racial attacks on Indians in Australia, or taking on the Pakistani establishment for its policy towards India. Arnab’s opinionated style of journalism by taking stand on controversial issues that mirrored popular sentiment ensured that his primetime show ‘The Newshour’ remained the most-watched show in the English news genre.
‘The Newshour’ and ‘Franky Speaking’, in which Arnab interviewed high-profile guests on a one-on-one basis, ensured that Times Now was ahead of its rivals CNN News18, NDTV 24×7 and India Today TV. Times Now is the crown jewel of Times Group’s broadcast business, which also includes ET Now, MagicBricks Now, Movies Now and Romedy Now. Without Arnab, Times Now’s first challenge will be to get a new leadership team. The channel will also have to decide whether it wants to follow the Arnab brand of journalism or take the traditional news format route.
Arnab’s clout in the network was clearly visible when, last year, he was elevated as president news and editor-in-chief of the news cluster that includes Times Now, ET Now and MagicBricks Now. The English news genre is a very difficult terrain with too many channels fragmenting the market. The business model is highly skewed towards ad revenue, thereby making it difficult for media houses to invest in creating quality content.
Arnab Goswami resigns from Times Now to chart his own course
