Hrithik Roshan cuts a cake to celebrate Times Now channel in 100 countries

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Times Network – part of India’s largest media conglomerate, The Times Group – is set to launch its No.1 English news channel, Times Now, in Europe, marking its presence in 100 countries.

This momentous occasion was celebrated in Mumbai, on Tuesday.  Bollywood superstar Hrithik Roshan was present at the function, and cut a cake.

The expansion, closely followed on the heels of Times Now’s launch in UK, will enable the Times Network to add a potential audience of 1.4 million Indians in mainland Europe in countries like Belgium, Germany, France, Italy, Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, and Switzerland, taking the international footprint to 10 million on five continents.

The network will launch Times Now with the support of Bobbles Media GmbH DTH and OTT platforms in Europe.

Recently, the network’s International Business received the ‘Porter Prize for Strategy 2016’ from the Institute of Competitiveness, affiliated to the Harvard Business School for ‘Creating Distinctive Value’.

M K Anand, MD & CEO, Times Network, said in a statement, “Today, with India’s growing participation in international affairs, engaging the Indian diaspora is equally important towards our economic development. I feel, as India’s leading English broadcast network, it’s the right time for us to create a global presence for ourselves and for our country. Through our approach towards television news journalism, which revolutionized the way news was presented in the country, we plan to represent a modern, vibrant, successful and vocal India to the world.”

Roshan said, in a statement, “Times Now, thank you for having me here to celebrate Times Now reaching 100 countries. This is an exceptional achievement. Supplying objective and unbiased news to the world to make them aware of their environment is one of the noblest services that we can provide and I wish the entire team of Times Now for this milestone hope that the entire team of TIMES NOW reaches more than 183 countries in the coming year. Finally, I personally believe and admit that no success is achieved solely but by the efforts of an entire team and that’s what Times Now has managed to do.”

Naveen Chandra, Head International Business, Times Network added, “This is truly a landmark achievement considering we were the last Indian TV network to begin international operations and have reached 100 countries in just a little over 5 years. From Times Now’s commercial launch in Australia in early 2011 to its launch in Western Europe in December last year, it has been an incredible journey. We have been a part of some of the largest global Indian events and built some of very effective enabling platforms for the Diaspora’s engagement with India and for Indian brands to expand internationally. We are all set to launch our first local content initiatives in Europe and look forward to growing aggressively in the future.”

The flagship channel of Times Network, the broadcast arm of Bennett Coleman & Co—Times Now has consistently been the most watched English news channel over the last 9 years and continues to dominate the market. It commands 43% market share in the English news category, and 58% overall market share during prime time English news, according to Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) India.