ATN to launch Republic TV in Canada

TORONTO, May 8, 2018 /CNW/ - Republic TV, India's leading English-language news channel has announced its foray into the North American continent by way of having its linear programming content aired nationally in Canada on a 24 hour licensed Canadian news service of ASIAN TELEVISION NETWORK INTERNATIONAL LIMITED (ATN) (TSXV-SAT).

Founded by stalwart journalist Arnab Goswami, Republic TV is the newest entrant to the English news space in India. Breaking records with 52 per cent market share* in its first week of broadcast it is now the de-facto leader in the genre.
*(Source: BARC Market:- India TG: NCCS AB Male 22+ Period: Wk 19'2017 (06^th - 12^th May'18) Time Band:-0200-2600)

Republic TV has a diverse schedule of shows including The Debate which airs every day except Saturday, from 9-11pm, and a weekly interview show, Nation Wantsto Know – both hosted by Editor-in-Chief Arnab Goswami, alongside news shows focusing on the biggest news incident of the day, called 'Burning Question' among others. Additional shows include Patriot, with Major Gaurav Arya, where viewers are taken into the barracks of the armed forces and R. Glitz, which showcases the latest news from Bollywood, among others.

Asian Television Network (ATN) is one of Canada's Pioneer Multi-Cultural Broadcasters and is a long established Canadian Media company that has grown in stature along with the fast expanding ethnic population in Canada. ATN has a state of the art Digital broadcast center with multiple studios, several non-linear edit suites; multiple camera crews with a special emphasis on local Canadian programming and is currently one of the largest producers of multicultural content in Canada. ATN operates a South Asian Radio Service on Satellite Radio across The United States and Canada. Some ATN content is also available on any Bell mobile phone that supports video.

Republic TV, President of Distribution & International Revenues, Priya Mukherjee said: "Since our inception last year, Republic TV has strived towards widening the reach of our cutting-edge content. While we successfully executed the reach of Republic TV across all households in the fragmented Indian cable distribution ecosystem during the first six months of the channel, & MENA in November 2017, our foray into North America with ATN is a big step for us. We are very happy to be increasing our footprint and we hope to soon expand our reach all over the world."

Commenting on the launch, Dr. Shan Chandrasekar, founder, President & CEO of Asian Television Network said, "We are excited to have Republic TV's High Quality Programming available through ATN's Canadian Licensed Platforms. Since Republic TV's launch in India, it has had a large share of voice in the Indian news space. With their compelling Content, we hope to reach the large South Asian diaspora in this part of the globe and make the network more holistic."

Republic TV CEO, Vikas Khanchandani, said: "North America contributes a huge faction of the digital viewership of Republic. With such high demand, we are heartened that the Canadian market will soon be able to consume the channel directly on their TV screens and that Priya and her team will be offering advertisers, the most impactful news media platform to discerning audiences in the region."

Republic TV Founder & Editor-in-Chief, Arnab Goswami, said: "We are delighted to bring Republic TV to North America, through ATN. We will also look to create original content in cooperation with ATN, specific to the market in due course to provide content on issues specific to the large Indian diaspora. "

About Republic TV
Launched in May 2017, by stalwart Indian journalist Arnab Goswami, Republic is India's first independent media venture, which is managed purely by content professionals. As a media-tech company, Republic is India's first global media brand. The channel has been the non-stop market leader since the first day of telecast, thereby breaking viewership records for Indian news television. The brand's website www.republicworld.com  launched in July 2017 and has become the fastest growing English news website in India since then.  The channel is committed to providing original programming and delivering in-depth analysis on news that matters to the viewers across platforms and reaffirm the power and reach of independent media.

About ATN-Asian Television Network International Limited (TSXV-SAT)
ATN serves Canada's diverse cultural communities with 55 specialty television channels. The Company offers its flagship ATN-HD general interest service along with 7 other general interest channels, 3 sports Channels, 7 news Channels, 5 Bollywood movie channels and a variety of channels that include music Channels, lifestyle Channels, Chinese Channels, Punjabi channels, and several regional language channels. ATN has programming alliances with leading international broadcasters like Doordarshan, Sony Entertainment Television, Viacom, India Cast, "&TV "from the Zee group, Times Television, B4U, Disney's UTV, ARY and many more. ATN channels are available on various licensed Cable, Satellite and IPTV Platforms across Canada like Shaw Cable, Bell TV, Rogers Cable, Bell Fibe TV, TELUS Optic TV, Shaw Direct, Cogeco Cable, and Others.

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SOURCE Asian Television Network International Limited