Republic acquires VRL News Media's broadcast biz; launches Republic Kannada

Republic Media Network on Friday announced its entry into the Kannada news market with the TV channel 'Republic Kannada', following its strategic acquisition of the broadcast assets of the Karnataka media conglomerate VRL News Media.

This would be a fully-owned channel of the Republic Media Network and will be on air very soon, it said.

With its tagline 'Nimma Dhwani’ (‘Your Voice’), the network said in a release that Republic Kannada would be "accountability-driven".

"Republic Kannada will be investigation-focused. Republic Kannada will be citizen-oriented. Overall, Republic Kannada will reflect the impact-chasing DNA of the Republic Media Network," it said, adding that its launch slogan is 'Nera Maathu, Kannalli Kannittu' (‘Straight-Talk, Eye-to-Eye’).

Republic Kannada, headquartered in Bengaluru, will kick off its on-air operations with over 300 professionals, including over 100 on-ground journalists, deployed across all 31 districts of Karnataka. Republic Kannada will have an additional stringer base of over 500 journalists.

Sounding the entry of Republic into Kannada news, the rapid expansion of the network into its 4th TV channel and the foray into its 2nd regional language operation, Chairman and Editor-in-Chief Arnab Goswami said, “Republic Media Network is young and restless. We want to break through all language barriers and reach the people of India as widely and as quickly as we can. So, for the very first time this network has chosen to grow inorganically."

Republic Media Network’s entry into the market of Kannada news comes alongside the expansive acquisition of all the television assets of one of the largest news players in Karnataka which runs the news channel Digvijaya News.

Anand Sankeshwar, MD, VRL Media Pvt Ltd, said, “Arnab is a visionary and he’s taking the Republic Media Network in the right direction. I am confident and 100% sure he will take our channel in the right direction.”

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