(By a special arrangement with www.mxmindia.com)
Months after Arnab Goswami proclaimed independence for
news, the nation still wants to know as to when his new channel Republic will be
launched. While the billboards are all across the country say 'With You Soon', let’s us hear from the
man himself, Arnab, about his plans, his views. Excerpts from a chat Pradyuman
Maheshwari, Editor-in-Chief and CEO of MXM India, has with Arnab:
So the question which, let me ask with a non-trademarked
statement: India wants to know when is the launch?
Very soon, it’s a matter of days now. You’ve seen my newsroom,
it’s buzzing with energy, I’m trying to get the product as close to being
perfect as possible. There’s nothing like an absolutely perfect launch though.
But having said that, we’re trying to sort of stitch things together… bring all
parts of the piece together, get the team to integrate, believe in themselves,
believe in the product, believe in the news they putout… get very, very
familiar with the technology they are using because some of the technology
you’re using here is…
Different?
Completely, completely new age. And so I want that
familiarisation process to carry on so I’m not setting a hard date for launch
yet, though if you ask me can I launch? I can launch right now.
So no Akshay Trittiya
launch, April 28th?
No, no-no.
May 1, Maharashtra Day,
Gujarat Day…
No, I don’t believe in these any commemorative events or dates.
I believe every day is good for news… we should just have a good run, go with
the flow.
But surely you need to
inform the distribution folks?
The distribution guys are more or less informed. I think most of
the people are aware of our channel being launched. In fact, we’re getting a
push from the distribution guys to launch early. Some places have already
started putting up promos on air in anticipation of our launch; our media
campaign should be starting soon. So we are almost there.
The question is that, the last mile, 4-5 days here or there
should be a discretion of the producers of the channel. So whenever the
producer of the channel says we’re okay to go, I’ll go.
So, plus or minus the
4-5 days, May 10, May 1?
Yes. I would say, yes, pretty much around that.
For the full version of the free-wheeling chat, please check:
http://www.mxmindia.com/2017/04/up-close-with-arnab-goswami/
