Kolkata TV

About Kolkata TV

Kolkata TV is a 24-hour Bengali-language news channel headquartered in Kolkata, West Bengal. Launched on 27 March 2006 by SST Media Pvt Ltd, a company of the Kolkata-based Xenitis Group, it is one of the oldest round-the-clock Bengali news channels in India, entering the market a year after Star Ananda (now ABP Ananda). The channel has built its identity around the slogan “Raatdin Saatdin” (रাতদিন সাতদিন), meaning “day-night, seven days”, and positions itself as an always-on source of news for West Bengal’s Bengali-speaking audience. Its ownership has changed hands several times over two decades — from SST Media to the Jain Group, to TV9’s Associated Broadcasting Company, through a court-supervised auction process, and finally to businessman Kaustuv Roy’s RP Group, which runs the channel through RP Techvision (I) Pvt Ltd. Kolkata TV is known for an editorial line that is critical of the BJP-led government at the Centre while being sympathetic towards the ruling Trinamool Congress in West Bengal, a stance that has kept it at the centre of the state’s fiercely competitive and politically charged media landscape. Its official website is www.kolkatatv.org.

History and Launch

Kolkata TV was officially launched on 27 March 2006 by SST Media Pvt Ltd, part of the Xenitis Group of Companies, a Kolkata business house with interests in computers and technology. The launch was a high-profile affair: Sumon Chattopadhyay, who had till recently been with STAR Ananda, joined as the founding editor, and noted film personality Aparna Sen — who had quit late in 2005 as editor of the ABP Group’s women’s magazine Sananda — came on board as creative director. Chattopadhyay, announcing the launch in March 2006, said that in terms of quality and equity the channel would be at par with the national level, and that its coverage would span local, national and international news with special emphasis on district-level reporting from across West Bengal. He himself hosted the prime-time news hour, while Aparna Sen supervised the visual identity of each programme and anchored a show called ‘Aparna Online’ devoted to socio-economic and cultural issues. Both Chattopadhyay and Sen, however, quit shortly after the launch, an early sign of the turbulence that would mark the channel’s corporate life.

Entering a market where Star Ananda and Tara Newz were already on air and Zee’s 24 Ghanta was imminent, Chattopadhyay described the competition as a game of survival of the fittest. Kolkata TV was positioned as the third major entrant in Bengali 24-hour news, and its launch added momentum to a regional news race that would only intensify in the years that followed.

Ownership Changes and the Auction Years

Kolkata TV’s ownership history is unusually eventful. Originally promoted by the Xenitis Group, the channel was bought over in December 2007 by Manoj Kumar Jain of the Jain Group of Industries, a company with interests in infrastructure development. Jain became the majority stakeholder with full managerial and operational control, while Tathagatha Datta — who had become proprietor of SST Media following a split in the Xenitis Group — continued as advisor and chief editor.

Within weeks of that takeover, Associated Broadcasting Company Private Limited, the Hyderabad-based owner of the TV9-branded channels, acquired an 86 per cent stake in the channel’s owner in January 2008, bringing Kolkata TV briefly into the TV9 fold. The association did not last: TV9 sold off its stake in 2009, with company officials stating that Associated Broadcasting had no more interest in Kolkata TV.

Financial distress followed. Around 2014, under the supervision of the Calcutta High Court, Kolkata TV was put up for auction for sale — reportedly the third such auction in a year, after the first two attempts drew no buyers at the high base price of around Rs 42–50 crore. The proceeds were to clear claims of vendors, financial institutions and employees. The channel eventually landed with Kaustuv Roy (also spelled Kaustuv Ray), the chair of the RP Group, who now owns it through the Calcutta-based RP Techvision (I) Pvt Ltd.

Current Ownership and Management

Kolkata TV is currently owned by Kolkata-based businessman Kaustuv Roy, chair of the RP Group, and is operated by RP Techvision (I) Pvt Ltd. Roy is involved in multiple sectors including computers, software and media, and is known for his close association with West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and the Trinamool Congress. Trade coverage has described the channel under his ownership as taking a critical stance towards the BJP-led government at the Centre while remaining sympathetic towards the Trinamool Congress government in the state. Roy’s stewardship has also drawn the scrutiny of central agencies: in March 2018 he was arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation as a director of RP Infosystems in connection with an alleged Rs 515 crore bank fraud involving a consortium of banks, and in August 2022 and July 2023 the Enforcement Directorate raided and later arrested him in a financial case, developments that the Trinamool leadership characterised as attempts to gag the media. In September 2021 the channel also received a caution of licence cancellation from the Union Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, citing denial of security clearance by the Ministry of Home Affairs — the same MHA-clearance issue that has troubled several regional broadcasters.

Programming and News Format

Kolkata TV’s schedule is built around hourly news bulletins, analyses of major news events, international news coverage, and district-level reporting — the district emphasis dating back to Chattopadhyay’s founding promise to give Bengal’s districts special attention. The channel carries rolling coverage through the day with branded analysis segments in the evening, and has long leaned on high-energy presentation typical of Bengali 24-hour news. Trade reporting from 2014 noted a 26 per cent rise in the channel’s West Bengal viewership over January–July 2014 along with a 21 per cent increase in time spent per viewer, which the channel used to justify an advertising rate hike and a media-sales tie-up with Aidem Ventures for the North and South markets. While the specific programme titles have rotated over the years, the mix — hourly headlines, prime-time debate and analysis, and special coverage of state politics, festivals and elections — has remained the backbone of its offering.

Editorial Stance and Slogan

The channel’s long-running slogan, “Raatdin Saatdin”, has been on its logo since the 2006 launch and remains central to its brand, promising news around the clock, seven days a week. Editorially, Kolkata TV under Kaustuv Roy has been described in media coverage as sympathetic to the Trinamool Congress and sharply critical of the Narendra Modi government at the Centre — a positioning that mirrors the political polarisation of West Bengal’s media market, where rival channels are seen as aligned with competing political camps. The channel’s coverage of state politics, municipal affairs, and the BJP–TMC contest in West Bengal forms the core of its editorial identity, and its reporting has periodically drawn accusations of partisanship from rival political voices, as well as defence from its own camp that it speaks for the state’s interests.

Reach and Distribution

Kolkata TV broadcasts in Bengali to West Bengal and the wider Bengali-speaking diaspora, carried on cable networks and direct-to-home platforms across India as well as through its website and streaming apps. It competes in one of India’s most crowded regional news markets alongside ABP Ananda, Zee 24 Ghanta, News18 Bangla, TV9 Bangla, Republic Bangla, Calcutta News, News Time Bangla and R Plus. The channel’s free-to-air availability and long-standing carriage deals have kept it accessible to mass audiences in the state, and its management has historically claimed a leading position among Bengali news channels, citing TAM and later BARC-adjacent audience data in trade announcements.

Digital and Social Media Presence

Beyond linear television, Kolkata TV operates a digital newsroom centred on its official website www.kolkatatv.org, which carries live streaming and video-on-demand news clips. The channel maintains an active presence on YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, Telegram and X (formerly Twitter) under handles such as kolkatatvweb and kolkatatvnews, and offers mobile applications on the Google Play Store and Apple’s App Store. Its YouTube channel regularly streams live coverage of breaking news, political rallies and assembly proceedings, extending the “Raatdin Saatdin” promise to digital audiences, including the large Bengali diaspora outside West Bengal.

Headquarters and Operations

Kolkata TV is headquartered in Kolkata, West Bengal — the city whose name it carries. In its SST Media days the channel’s offices were listed at 119 Park Street in central Kolkata; under RP Techvision it continues to operate its newsroom, studios and transmission facilities from the city. The channel maintains a network of reporters across West Bengal’s districts, consistent with its founding emphasis on district news, and its operations span editorial, production, technical and digital teams supporting the 24-hour broadcast and the website’s rolling updates.

Place in Bengali Television History

Kolkata TV’s two-decade run makes it a survivor of Bengali television’s most volatile era. It launched in the first great wave of Bengali 24-hour news, outlasted the TV9 interlude, survived a court-supervised auction, and re-emerged under RP Group ownership as one of the state’s most politically distinctive news voices. Few regional channels have changed hands as often, and few have been as closely identified with the political fortunes of their owners. For viewers of Bengali news, the channel remains a familiar fixture — the “Raatdin Saatdin” brand that has broadcast through West Bengal’s assembly elections, municipal battles and the state’s shifting political landscape since 2006.