KOLKATA: TV18 Broadcast is launching its 24-hour Bengali news channel ‘ETV News Bangla’ today at 5 pm.

West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee will be present at the inauguration, ETV News sources said.

TV18 Broadcast’s non-executive chairman Manoj Mehanka, ETV Network editor Rajesh Raina and ETV News Channel head Jagdish Chandra would be present at the launch.

Veteran political journalist Prabir Ghosal has been appointed as an advisor to ETV News Bangla.

Senior journalist Saptarshi Som has joined the channel as the deputy bureau chief (incharge of input).

Earlier indiantelevision.com had reported that Dhrubajyoti Pramanik has joined the news channel as its editor. The channel has on board more than 40 journalists.

Bengali general entertainment channel ETV Bangla will soon stop having its three news bulletins with the launch of ETV News Bangla.

Studio 33 head producer Pranab Ganguly said, “The ETV Bengali news capsules were always liked and appreciated by the audience primarily because of their ability to put in good information in limited time. I am hoping the new channel will keep up with the good work.”

A consultant with Corpus Media GK Viswanath felt there is absence of non-biased news channels in West Bengal.