MUMBAI: As the general elections are inching closer, media veterans are set to launch several news ventures. Harvest TV is expected to be the first off the blocks. The English news channel, which has congressman Kapil Sibal as one of its promoters, is set to go on air from 26 January, according to a report by ‘ThePrint’.

Harvest TV is owned by Veecon Media that already has licences for English, Hindi and other regional language channels. The news venture will see the return of high-profile journalists Barkha Dutt, Karan Thapar and Punya Prasun Bajpai.

The channel’s uplinking and downlinking will be done by Intelsat-17.

Dutt will anchor a prime show and so will Thapar. Other prominent TV anchors such as Seemi Pasha (ex-India Today) and Vineet Malhotra (ex-Times Now) are also expected to be a part of the channel.

According to ThePrint, the launch preparations are on in full swing. The promos are being shot now and will be on air before the launch.

Another channel to be launched on the same date is Republic Media Network’s Hindi news channel, Republic Bharat. In a recent announcement, the network has elevated Vikas Khanchandani as group CEO and also appointed Bhaskar Das as the group president.

Hemant Sharma, formerly of India TV, is also working on launching a Hindi channel for the TV9 group, along with journalists Vinod Kapri and Ajit Anjum.