The Sahara India Group‘s ambitions to become a major media powerhouse was taken to a whole new level today as it announced plans to launch a bouquet of 38 news channels - a national news channel and 37 independent city-based regional news stations covering Uttar Pradesh & Uttranchal, Madhya Pradesh & Chattisgarh, Rajasthan, Bihar & Jharkhand, National Capital Region (NCR) and Mumbai.

With the launch of these 38 news channels, Sahara TV aims to focus on providing not only national and international news but also in-depth and high-quality city-based and regional news coverage in the respective states, an official release states. The system of local TV news stations is well established in the West but this must be a first where one network is launching so many news channels at one go.

The network is scheduled to launch in April and will be broadcast through the VSAT system being set up as part of the Sahara Net project. At the time of launch 1,400 VSATs will be in place and the number is expected to go up to 1,800 by the end of the year. Sahara TV expects to cover even smaller cities and towns by leveraging Sahara Net‘s VSAT network, bureaus for news gathering.

The capital intensive project envisages a major expansion on the manpower front as well. Official sources in the channel said project funding would be raised internally.

Announcing this, Subrata Roy Sahara, managing worker & chairman, Sahara India Pariwar, said: "Driven by the objective of spreading awareness in our mission of mass communication to all the people of India, the most distinctive aspect of Sahara TV‘s news channels will be to fulfill the ever-increasing demand for quality and comprehensive news coverage. This bouquet of 38 news channels will provide a major fillip not only to the Indian broadcasting industry but also to the 39 million cable and satellite viewers."

The bouquet will comprise local news channels for the following cities:

Newswise, while the main channel will be in Hindi, the network expects to roll out bulletins in English and Urdu as well. Sahara TV vice-president (publicity, promotions & PR) Priya Raj revealed that the main Hindi channel is planned to be a separate feed available alongside the individual city-specific news channels.

It‘s taken long to arrive at a decision, but the Indian I&B ministry has finally decided to invoke special legal powers to crack down on cable transmission that could harm the "national interest".

The order, issued by the ministry on Friday, cites section 20 of the Cable Television Networks (Regulation) Act that allows authorities the power to ‘regulate or prohibit the transmission or retransmission of any channel or programmes, by an order, where the Central government thinks it necessary or expedient to do so in the interest of the sovereignty or integrity of India." Translated, this means the Centre can intervene in case it finds Pakistan TV (PTV) transmitting anti-India propaganda and black out the channel.

The action comes nearly two weeks after Pakistan disallowed transmission of five channels of the Star family in the country. The ban was lifted a week later by the Pakistan Telecom Authority. India, on the other hand, did not go in for an immediate ban, even after the 13 December terrorist attacks on Parliament. Instead, an inter-ministerial committee was set up by I&B minister Sushma Swaraj to discuss the situation and to monitor the TV signals being beamed from across the border.

Even now, the ministry has not actually blacked out any channel, but seems to be arming itself for any eventuality.