TV channels bring disaster to your living room, live

Nithya Subramanian

NEW DELHI, Sept. 13

THE images of the World Trade Center caving in was just like a superbly crafted scene from a Hollywood action thriller. Only, this time the disaster was for real and the world caught it live, including India, thanks to international channels like Fox News and NBC airing their US feeds into the country.

While Star decided to bring in Fox News from the NewsCorp portfolio for the first time, CNBC used feeds of its sister networks, MSNBC and NBC. CNN and BBC, the two international networks already in India, also went live.

Star officials said that the magnitude of the event made them bring Fox News to India. ``As soon as the news broke, a decision was taken to bring in Fox to give a first-hand coverage of the incident. The channel was available on Star World, while Star News used the feed and interspersed it with Hindi and English commentary,'' said the spokesperson for Star India.

CNBC, meanwhile, said that it could use the resources of MSNBC and NBC whenever any important news breaks. ``The channel, in fact, cut down the India programming yesterday and carried on the US feed throughout the night,'' said a CNBC India spokesperson.

CNN, meanwhile, not only carried exclusive footage of the aircraft hitting the World Trade Center, but its footage was used extensively by both Doordarshan as well as Pakistan TV. ``Channels like Eenadu TV, Sri Lanka TV, Nepal TV and TV Maldives also used the CNN feed,'' said the spokesperson for the channel.

Not to be left behind, Hindi news channels, Aaj Tak and Zee News, also carried on with studio discussions in Hindi and regular updates. Mr G. Krishnan, Executive Director, TV Today, said, ``We used feeds from Associated Press Television Network and Reuters Television which were very fast. We told them what we wanted and managed to give viewers the Indian version in Hindi. We were definitely above the others.''

Channels like Fox and NBC will continue to be on air as long as the events develop. ``We will not be launching Fox News as a full-fledged channel, but will continue to bring the feed to India as long as there is action,'' said Star's spokesperson.

Media analysts said that the Gulf War ushered in the cable revolution in India. ``The live coverage of the disaster through various international channels indicates the tremendous growth of Indian television market,'' said a media analyst.