NEW DELHI: NewsX has gone into a 24-hour dry run, covering news across the country. The brand campaign will start later this month, said NewsX news room head Arup Ghosh.

Ghosh, who joined on 5 February, said sigificant progress had been made towards the launch of the news channel, having turned from producing a mere 30-minute news show to going 24 X 7 within a few days.

Speaking to Indiantelevision.com, founder-promoter Indrani Mukerjea confirmed that the 24-hour dry run has started, and that the editorial is "fully staffed".

"We are fully staffed. Though we have not put a date to the launch so far, it will be soon," Mukerjea said.

The team is working out from six major bureaux, six smaller ones and scores of other linkages. "We are also working out the programme slots," said Ghosh.

The brand campaign will start with a teaser campaign, on outdoors and also on television, and will be followed by AV promos that will show the entire team.

"We have got all relevant licenses, with the main license having come our way some months ago, and now we have the licenses for uplinking from OB vans as well," Ghosh said.

He added that all the bureaux are linked and each is watching NewsX bulletins rolling out from the other centres as well - from Mumbai ("which is a "super bureau", he said), Hyderabad, Chennai, Bangalore and Chandigarh, as well as the other smaller bureaux.

There are altogether 200 persons working already in the editorial department and more are joining, he said.

Ghosh confirmed that some top of the rung editorial personnel are going to join, in key positions like Political Editor, as well as assignment and forward planning editors.

"They are coming from some of the top channels. I can't yet reveal names, as you know it takes time to resign from one company and join a new one," Ghosh said.

The announcements will be made over the next two weeks and once that process ends, the date for final launch will be decided, he added.

He revealed too that the look and packaging has been done by a renowned British company, which has also designed the graphics.