Times Network gets two more channel licences

The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB) has granted permission to Times Now 4 and ET Now 3 from the Bennett Coleman Group.

Sony Pictures Networks India’s Sony Marathi has also been granted a licence to operate and the channel is slated to go on air on August 19.

Bangla Entertainment, a subsidiary of SPNI, was also given permission.

In addition to these three, Vision Corporation also bagged the rights to launch India Fashion TV.

Since January 2018, MIB had awarded a total of seven licences. The other three include Discovery Jeet HD and DSport HD in January and Surya Bhakti.

Due to certain reframing of policy matters, the ministry had slowed down the process of awarding licences.

The three channels whose licences were cancelled include Akhon Samay, a non-operational channel, SNBC News and Explore TV, a travel and infotainment channel.

Among the renaming approvals, ZEEL got the go-ahead to change Zee Classic to Zee Bollywood. Khushboo has been renamed as Khushboo Bangla. Nation Today from News Nation Network is now called News State Madhya Pradesh/Chhattisgarh.

Andy Haryana of Satcom Media Broadcast has been renamed as Balle Balle.

After the fresh set of licences was allotted, the total number of permitted channels stands at 1107 while the number of cancelled channels is 239. Of the total 868 channels with valid licenses, 484 are non-news.

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