On Friday, September 1, the Republic Media Network formally announced Republic Kannada. Republic’s aggressive entry into the Kannada news market comes on the back of Republic’s swift and strategic acquisition of the broadcast assets of the respected 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.
Republic Kannada will burst into the Kannada news market with its tagline ‘ನಿಮ್ಮ ಧ್ವನಿ’ (Nimma Dhwani’ or ‘Your Voice’), putting the people of Karnataka at the forefront in the channel’s pledge to fight for people’s causes. Republic Kannada is set to disrupt the Kannada news genre with the Republic Media Network’s iconic news values.
Republic Kannada will be accountability-driven, will be investigation-focused, and will be citizen-oriented. Overall, Republic Kannada will reflect the impact-chasing DNA of the Republic Media Network.
Republic Kannada’s launch slogan ‘ನೇರ ಮಾತು ಕಣ್ಣಲ್ಲಿ ಕಣ್ಣಿಟ್ಟು’ (‘Nera Maathu, Kannalli Kannittu’ or ‘Straight-Talk, Eye-to-Eye’), thunders an unequivocal message that it will be the platform of the people, for the people and by the people to look at the powers that be in the eye, and do the straight talk.
Republic Kannada, headquartered in the heart of Bengaluru, will kick off its on-air operations with over 300 professionals, including over 100 on-ground journalists, deployed across all the 31 districts of Karnataka. Republic Kannada will have an additional stringer base of over 500 journalists. Every story, every injustice, every demand of the citizens from every region, every village and every locality of Karnataka will find a loud and effective voice in Republic Kannada.
Republic Kannada will ensure that those living in Ivory Towers will finally hear ‘Your Voice’, loud, assertive, and aspirational.
Sounding the entry of Republic into Kannada news, the rapid expansion of his network into its fourth TV channel and the foray into its second vernacular 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.’
‘Anand and Vijay Sankeshwar of the iconic VRL Group are people who we deeply respect and admire. We share the same core values of nationalism and integrity. It is a privilege for us to welcome this valued channel they created with so much love in the Republic Media Network. I have great respect for the Sankeshwar family and, for me, this is not just a business acquisition by the Republic Media Network, but also a culmination of a great friendship with Anand Sankeshwar and respect for his father, Vijay Sankeshwar sir.’, Goswami added.
On the tagline of Republic Kannada, he said, ‘Republic Kannada will change the news media landscape in Karnataka. We will be, as always, the voice of the people, ‘Nimma Dhwani’, and work to represent the aspirations of the people of this great state.’
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 popular news channel Digvijaya News.
Republic Kannada’s expansive newsroom and studios span over a buzzing 28,000-square-foot facility in the state’s capital city with multiple studios and over 73 cutting-edge in-house news production tools. Niranjan Narayanaswamy, Executive Editor – News, will head the editorial operations of Republic Kannada in addition to his other responsibilities at the network.
Anand Sankeshwar, MD, VRL Media Pvt Ltd said, ‘Arnab is a visionary and he is taking the Republic Media Network in the right direction. I am confident and 100 percent sure that he will take our channel in the right direction. Arnab started the Republic journey in 2017. And in a short span of 6 years, he has grown the network to an unassailable height. As Dighvijay 24×7 News channel becomes Republic Kannada, I am happy to hand it over to him and the Republic Media Network.’
On the association with Arnab Goswami’s Republic, Sankeshwar said, ‘Arnab is an out-of-the-box thinker. He is very innovative in thinking and he is even setting up a massive state of the art studio in Noida. The Republic Media Network is building next age studios and it is mighty impressive. Arnab is a friend to me from many years. He’s a friend first. He even promoted a film on my father’s journey when I visited his studios in Mumbai.’
‘He is like an elder brother and we share a special relationship. We hope he takes the Dighvijay News channel to the next level via Republic Kannada. The Debate show hosted by Arnab is one of the most watched shows. He garners over 50 percent of the viewership in the English News genre. There is something special about Arnab, the journalist, the debater that I admire. He is extremely popular.’, expressed Sankeshwar.
Republic Kannada will join the quickly filling bouquet of broadcast news channels of the Republic Media Network, all of which have recorded stellar and historic viewership language by language. All 3 existing channels of Republic Media Network are on top of the charts vis-a-vis ratings, irrespective of language and genre.
Republic TV continues its uninterrupted run of 329 weeks at the No. 1 spot of English news ratings, Republic Bharat has toppled all legacy competitors to be the solid No. 1 in the Hindi news genre and Republic Bangla has stormed the Bengali news genre by steamrolling the existing players through primetime and day slots.
The strategic acquisition comes alongside a complete asset purchase of the broadcast news section of VRL Media, the figure of which remains undisclosed.
With Republic Kannada, Republic Media Network has become India’s largest news network in less than 7 years since its launch. Republic’s total force, driven and led by India’s finest journalists, has now grown to over 2000 professionals across the length and breadth of India, and beyond its borders.
With this announcement, Republic Media Network also is among the largest distributed broadcast news networks in the country. The network now reaches over 438 million across India in 2023. This staggering reach purely on broadcast television means that the Republic Media Network now reaches 1 in every 3 Indians just on broadcast television.
In addition, Republic Media Network on YouTube alone records 6 billion impressions per month, and a reach of over 130 million on Meta, which makes the Network’s pure reach on the digital-social-video medium among the most expansive.
On the rapid and landmark expansion of his Network in just 6 years, Goswami said, ‘Republic Media Network is making history in every project it undertakes. We are destined to be the largest media organisation in India and by reaching approximately 438 million Indians on television alone we have achieved our target.’
‘However, we have a long way to go and our teams are working relentlessly to get there. The most important aspect of our growth is that it makes us the largest journalist owned and run news organisation in the world today. This is the most significant part of who we are and why the Republic Media Network is a household name across the country today.’, hr further expressed.
With the announcement of Republic Kannada, the Republic Media Network also becomes home to India’s largest journalistic assets. Republic’s cutting-edge broadcast and digital technology will now have headquarter-newsrooms in 4 cities, and beam in 4 languages including 2 vernacular languages in the Eastern and Southern belts of India.
This comes in addition to the network’s deep investment into ground reportage which has grown to the scale of having an intricate network of reporters across all of India’s 28 states and 8 Union Territories, as well as its ever-growing global reporter base.
After recording the fastest news television launch with Republic Bangla, Republic Media Network assures its audiences across the world and especially in Karnataka, that Republic Kannada will be live very soon.
