BBC launches first Gujarati TV bulletin for India

The BBC World Service on Monday launched its first Gujarati language television news bulletin as part of an ongoing expansion drive in India.

'BBC Samachar' will broadcast live five days a week from Delhi and will air on the broadcaster's partner station GSTV at 8 pm local time.

After the successful launch of BBC News Gujarati website last year, the news bulletin will help us broaden our audience base on TV. Audiences will now be able to watch the unique and incredible stories from the world, which will offer them a different perspective of what is happening within the region, said Ankur Jain, editor for the Gujarati service.

The launch is part of a wider BBC World Service expansion, which has seen 12 new language services launched around the world over the last 12 months. Four new language services have been launched online in India, Gujarati, Marathi, Punjabi and Telugu.

'BBC Samachar' joins the Telugu TV bulletin ‘BBC Prapancham' and the nightly Hindi TV news bulletin 'BBC Duniya'.

The BBC said the Gujarati bulletin will bring insightful global and national stories to the Gujarati-speaking audience in India and around the world. Using touchscreen technology and digital content, 'BBC Samachar' will provide the main issues of interest to young audiences and aim to stir conversations while being strongly rooted in the BBC's principles of fairness and impartiality, the British broadcaster said.

GSTV is extremely delighted about the partnership with BBC News Gujarati. This marks a new era in Gujarati journalism. GSTV is one of Gujarat's most celebrated news channels and I am sure with this bulletin we will further cement our relationship with the audience, said Shreyans Shah, managing editor of GSTV.

The expansion is part of what the BBC has described as ‘significant’ investment in India, including an expanded news bureau in Delhi with two new TV studios. The Delhi bureau is the BBC's second-largest outside the UK, as is the TV and digital content production hub for the whole of South Asia.

'BBC Samachar', presented by Archana Pushpendra and Mihir Raval, will bring together the best of BBC's content produced globally and nationally, the broadcaster said.

The bulletin will have Indian stories as well as international, and will also offer a mix of trending topics, sports, entertainment, business, health, education and women's interests.