Television Subramanian Swamy asks MIB not to grant licence to Arnab Goswami’s ‘Republic’ Posted on: 25/01/2017 09:14 PM
TelevisionPost Team MUMBAI: BJP leader and Rajya Sabha MP Subramanian Swamy has written a letter to the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting (MIB) against granting licence to TV anchor Arnab Goswami’s upcoming news channel ‘Republic’. According to Swamy, the Emblems and Names (Prevention of Improper Use) Act, 1950 bars anyone from using the term ‘Republic’ for professional and commercial purposes.
Swamy further stated that the schedule accompanying the statute, under Item 6, prohibits using the word ‘Republic’. Thus, Swamy contended, the grant of licence to a news channel to broadcast under the name of ‘Republic’ will be contrary to law and a direct breach of the Emblems and Names (Prevention of Improper Use) Act, 1950. “Therefore, your office may look into the use of ‘Republic’ and determine if it is prohibited to issue a license under such name,” Swamy said in his letter. The letter dated 13 January was addressed to the MIB secretary Ajay Mittal. As reported earier by TelevisionPost.com, Goswami has teamed up with Rajya Sabha MP and NDA vice-chairman Rajeev Chandrasekhar for his TV and digital news venture ‘Republic’.
The two, along with Goswami’s wife Samyabrata Ray Goswami, have floated two companies named ARG Outlier Media and SARG Media Holding for the venture. Chandrasekhar, who is the also the CMD of Asianet News Network, has invested Rs 30 crore in the venture. Besides Chandrasekhar, other investors in the venture include DEN Networks promoter Sameer Manchanda, Aarin Capital Partners’ Ranjan Ramdas Pai, Veteran investment banker Hemendra Kothari, Asian Heart Institute’s Ramakanta Panda, TVS Tyres’ R Naresh and Shobhana Ramachandhran, and Renaissance Jewellery owner Niranjan Shah.
Pai has invested Rs 7.5 crore in SARG while Panda has put in Rs 5 crore in the company. Kothari’s investment in the company has been Rs 2.5 crore. Manchanda, along with Sanjeev Manchanda and Tapesh Virendra Singhi, has invested over Rs 2.5 crore in SARG, cumulatively. SARG Media, which is the main investor in ARG Outlier, has invested Rs 26 crore in the company so far. Meanwhile, ad sales veteran Vikas Khanchandani has joined Goswami’s TV and digital news venture Republic as its chief executive officer
. Republic is on a hiring spree. Goswami’s company has partnered online professional networking platform LinkedIn as its exclusive platform for finding talent to grow the team. Republic is leveraging LinkedIn to hire professionals for roles across their news desk, production team, news analysis desk, social media desk, website and app development team.
Read more at: Subramanian Swamy asks MIB not to grant licence to Arnab Goswami’s ‘Republic’ | TelevisionPost.com | TelevisionPost.com
TelevisionPost Team MUMBAI: BJP leader and Rajya Sabha MP Subramanian Swamy has written a letter to the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting (MIB) against granting licence to TV anchor Arnab Goswami’s upcoming news channel ‘Republic’. According to Swamy, the Emblems and Names (Prevention of Improper Use) Act, 1950 bars anyone from using the term ‘Republic’ for professional and commercial purposes.
Swamy further stated that the schedule accompanying the statute, under Item 6, prohibits using the word ‘Republic’. Thus, Swamy contended, the grant of licence to a news channel to broadcast under the name of ‘Republic’ will be contrary to law and a direct breach of the Emblems and Names (Prevention of Improper Use) Act, 1950. “Therefore, your office may look into the use of ‘Republic’ and determine if it is prohibited to issue a license under such name,” Swamy said in his letter. The letter dated 13 January was addressed to the MIB secretary Ajay Mittal. As reported earier by TelevisionPost.com, Goswami has teamed up with Rajya Sabha MP and NDA vice-chairman Rajeev Chandrasekhar for his TV and digital news venture ‘Republic’.
The two, along with Goswami’s wife Samyabrata Ray Goswami, have floated two companies named ARG Outlier Media and SARG Media Holding for the venture. Chandrasekhar, who is the also the CMD of Asianet News Network, has invested Rs 30 crore in the venture. Besides Chandrasekhar, other investors in the venture include DEN Networks promoter Sameer Manchanda, Aarin Capital Partners’ Ranjan Ramdas Pai, Veteran investment banker Hemendra Kothari, Asian Heart Institute’s Ramakanta Panda, TVS Tyres’ R Naresh and Shobhana Ramachandhran, and Renaissance Jewellery owner Niranjan Shah.
Pai has invested Rs 7.5 crore in SARG while Panda has put in Rs 5 crore in the company. Kothari’s investment in the company has been Rs 2.5 crore. Manchanda, along with Sanjeev Manchanda and Tapesh Virendra Singhi, has invested over Rs 2.5 crore in SARG, cumulatively. SARG Media, which is the main investor in ARG Outlier, has invested Rs 26 crore in the company so far. Meanwhile, ad sales veteran Vikas Khanchandani has joined Goswami’s TV and digital news venture Republic as its chief executive officer
. Republic is on a hiring spree. Goswami’s company has partnered online professional networking platform LinkedIn as its exclusive platform for finding talent to grow the team. Republic is leveraging LinkedIn to hire professionals for roles across their news desk, production team, news analysis desk, social media desk, website and app development team.
Read more at: Subramanian Swamy asks MIB not to grant licence to Arnab Goswami’s ‘Republic’ | TelevisionPost.com | TelevisionPost.com
