Zee launches nation's 1st anchor-less news channel

A new chapter of Indian News-TV genre started on Thursday with the launch of the nation's first anchor-less channel — Zee Hindustan. The channel will broadcast news as it comes without any views and insight from anchors. The audience can now expect news and information as it comes without what often turns into dramatic screaming among anchor and guest panelists.

Inaugurating Zee Hindustan — one of the fourteen news channels that Zee Media Corporation Ltd (ZMCL) runs — Essel Group chairman and Rajya Sabha MP Subhash Chandra hoped that the channel will cater to a large chunk of audience who want pure news from across the nation. Elaborating on the content of the channel, he said, "We have channels in many regional languages meant for specific regions, but now Zee Hindustan will have news content from across the nation." He added that the channel will be broadcast and streamed in multiple languages, thus empowering the audience to choose the language of their own choice.

"There will be no one between the audience and the news because we know our viewers are intelligent enough to understand and analyse the information received," said Chandra. "The anchors who appear on news channels often give colours to news stories. The viewers who just want to know about the news are left with no choice but to watch that anchor. Realising this, ZMCL has come up with an alternative — Zee Hindustan," said Chandra.

Highlighting the channel's USP, Chandra said it will revisit the untold glory of Indian history which did not get a place in text books. He said 'Bharat' is different from 'India' as the former's history is of six thousand years while the latter's is merely 72 years. "The channel will have Bharat in its perspective and its rich culture and heritage in its veins which will be highlighted through news," he said.

The Rajya Sabha MP also said that the channel has been conceptualized keeping in mind today's helter-skelter way of people's life. "That is why the convention of making 30 minutes news bulletins has been done away with. In Zee Hindustan the audience will have the ease of watching only 10 minutes of news wheels, which they can easily access on their mobile phones too. Ten minutes do not mean that the viewer is going to miss any story, rather they will have the taste of information from across nation which they can use," he added.

Speaking on the occasion, Ashok Venkatramani, MD of Zee Media Corporation Ltd said, "A vacuum was being felt for a news channel which is free from shouting and screaming, which we are trying to fill." Venkatramani added that ZMCL has always been pioneering in taking bold steps towards the benefit of viewers. Going anchor-less is another such futuristic step which the group is sure will get a huge welcome of people.

Zee Hindustan Editor Purushottam Vaishnav said this will be a channel with a difference and that the difference would be 'news in its pure form'. He said people have become bored watching similar stories presented in similar fashion. "So, we decided to create something unique — an anchor-less channel, where news will speak for itself and tell its own story. The audience will have no interference of anyone between them and the news," Vaishnav said.