Al Jazeera English adds nine million Indian homes through Tata Sky partnership

New Delhi: Al Jazeera English, the multi-award winning news and current affairs channel, has  announced its launch on India’s leading DTH platform, Tata Sky. The channel is now available to Tata Sky viewers on number 543. Al Jazeera English’s launch on Tata Sky will enable the channel to reach an additional 9 million Indian households, taking its total reach across the country to over 25 million households. Globally, Al Jazeera English is available in over 260 million households across 130 different countries.

“We are delighted to be launching on Tata Sky today, and I would like to take this opportunity to welcome all our new viewers in India to Al Jazeera English,” said Al Anstey, Managing Director of Al Jazeera English. “India is a really important country for Al Jazeera, with an outward looking, intelligent audience who are interested in what is going on in their world. We are committed to providing the highest quality coverage of India, from the region, and from our bureaux in all corners of the globe. We look forward to continue providing unique, comprehensive and compelling content to all of our viewers across the country.” 

Nicola Bamford, Chief Content and Business Development Officer at Tata Sky added: “A strong advocate of offering a wide range in every genre, Tata Sky is happy to offer its subscribers the awardwinning Al Jazeera English channel on its platform. With a significant mix of both international and Indiaspecific news, we are certain that our subscribers will continue to enjoy our latest addition to the news genre.” The exciting announcement will give Al Jazeera English’s new Tata Sky viewers the chance to watch the channel’s exclusive six-part observational documentary Indian Hospital beginning 3rd May 2012.

The cutting-edge documentary – executive produced by Oscar, Emmy and BAFTA winning filmmaker Jon Blair – was filmed over four months by two crews inside the Narayana Hrudayalaya Health City on the outskirts of Bangalore. By following the stories of patients, doctors and nurses the series explores the rich variety of life in modern India through the prism of hospital life.