Ravish Kumar has a severe meltdown as Hathway Cable removes NDTV from ‘popular’ list

NDTV undergoes some serious meltdowns multiple times a year, and this is a fact. Owing to its dystopic editorial line and general boring nature of the content, NDTV has emerged as one of the least-watched and liked channels in India today. NDTV has become irrelevant. Gone are the days when NDTV was India’s only electronic news source, apart from Doordarshan. When Indians had no choice, they had to watch the channel. Now, however, the electronic news industry has so much to offer – and NDTV, therefore, does not emerge as a top choice for viewers. 

This has led to NDTV being dropped from some “popular packs” offered by cable TV operator Hathway cable. Importantly, Hathway cable has not removed NDTV from its services altogether but has removed the network’s English and Hindi channels from its popular packs, because these channels are not popular among viewers. It makes sense, therefore, to offer audiences channels that they like to watch. NDTV, however, is simply too immature to come to terms with its fate. 

The Meltdown

So, self-proclaimed righteous journalist, and who according to himself is the only journalist remaining in India – Ravish Kumar broke into a meltdown against Hathway. In a 1 minute 38 seconds-long video posted on Twitter by NDTV, Ravish Kumar alleged that Hathway Cable has removed his channel as a part of a conspiracy to blackout the channel so that the content of the channel does not reach the audiences. He also did not miss the opportunity to engage in cringe-worthy moral grandstanding and self-promotion, as he said that he works from 7 am to 10 pm to bring together his prime-time show and that he transcribes the scripts. 

Ravish added that despite him and his team putting in a lot of effort to produce his prime-time show, viewers are being deprived of the chance to watch the channel altogether. Interestingly, Ravish Kumar made the rant all about himself and his prime-time show and paid no attention to the fact that other shows of NDTV too are now unavailable for the few viewers who still watch the channel. 

Ravish Kumar painted a doomsday picture, and also took a dig at other news channels, who according to him, pick up some useless panellists from the ‘club’ and produce a problem that abounds with screaming and incoherence. At the end of the video, Ravish Kumar urges the audience to call and message Hathway Cable and tell the operator to restore NDTV India. 

Ravish Kumar lied through his teeth and made it appear that Hathway had blocked the channel altogether. NDTV should focus on uplifting its viewership numbers, which will automatically make the channel ‘popular’, leading to its inclusion in all packs. Currently, however, NDTV is simply not in a position to demand anything from cable operators, owing to its non-existent viewership. 

Financial Fraud

NDTV is not all that pious as its editor – Ravish Kumar wants you to believe. In December last year, SEBI, the securities regulatory authority, had imposed a hefty fine of 27 crore rupees on Radhika Roy, Pronnoy Roy and NDTV for withholding important information from shareholders. NDTV entered into a secretive loan agreement with ICICI Bank in 2008 and later with Vishva Pradhan Commercial Private Limited (VCPL) in 2009 and 2010. The loan with VCPL was warranted with the transfer of shares by the promoters, but the management failed to disclose these deals despite being a publicly traded company.

NDTV – A Victim of its Own Making

NDTV is a notorious media organisation. Financial fraud, tax evasion, deceiving shareholders of a public listed company, collusion with powerful politicians before 2014 – the media organisation has reportedly done it all. Historically, NDTV has been sympathetic for terrorists and their extremist organisations, calling them “fighters” on bad days and “militants” on good ones. Post-2014, the times have been bad for the media organisation, in contrast to how they were good back when the channel found itself involved with absconding fugitive Vijay Mallya.

Read more: NDTV shamelessly chooses to become the Taliban’s propaganda channel. It should be punished

In the past, NDTV and its employees (present and former) have never shied away from siding with violent extremists. Barkha Dutt had referred to Burhan Wani as the “son of a school headmaster” after he was eliminated by security forces, in a brazen attempt at humanising the man. Another NDTV journalist, Nidhi Sethi, who worked as Deputy News Editor at NDTV, had posted a comment on Facebook which seemed to glorify the 2019 Pulwama attack. She had written, “where a grisly 44 has been proven to be greater than the mythical 56.” This was accompanied by #howsthejaish.

NDTV needs to drill the fact that it is irrelevant and unlikable into its head. It simply makes a clown out of itself with these repeated meltdowns and rants.