TV18 Broadcast-controlled ETV News Network is planning to launch three news channels in election-bound Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Assam. The channels are to be called News18 Tamil Nadu, News18 Kerala and News18 Assam/North East.

The network is awaiting regulatory clearances to launch the channels. “We are waiting for regulatory clearances to launch channels in Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Assam. We plan to launch the channels in April,” ETV News Network head Jagdish Chandra told.

Tamil Nadu and Kerala are crowded TV news markets with well-entrenched players. In Tamil Nadu, Sun TV Network’s Sun News rules the roost. Asianet is an old player in Kerala. Both states have strong news channels owned by print publications. In Tamil Nadu, Puthiya Thalaimurai, a Tamil magazine from SRM Group, and Thanthi TV, a daily newspaper from Thanthi Trust, are strong players.

In Kerala, Malayalam print majors Malayala Manorama and Mathrubhmi have TV presence through Manorama News and Mathrubhumi News respectively.

Channels with political connections also dot the TV landscape in the two states. Examples include Kalaignar TV (DMK), Jaya News (AIADMK) and Lotus TV (BJP) in Tamil Nadu. In Kerala, it is Jaihind TV (Congress) and Kairali TV (CPM).

In Assam, the leading players are News Live, Pratidin Time, Assam Talks, DY 365 and Prag News.

Market Sources also confirm that TV18 has roped in M Gunasekaran as editor of News18 Tamil Nadu, While M Saikia is the news editor of News18 Assam and Pramod Raghavan as the Associate Editor of News18 Kerala. The channels will be operated from Hyderabad until the facilities are created in the respective Markets.

ETV News Network already operates regional language channels such as ETV Uttar Pradesh / Uttarakhand, ETV Madhya Pradesh/Chhattisgarh, ETV Bihar/Jharkhand, ETV Rajasthan, ETV News Bangla, ETV News Kannada, ETV News Gujarati, ETV News Odia, ETV News Haryana/Himachal and ETV News Urdu.