MUMBAI: Under a new chief Jeff Zucker US news broadcaster CNN is trying to make itself more competitive. But it still has a few years to go before it can beat Fox News.

Speaking to a few reporters gathered around him at the Landmarc restaurant in Time Warner Center Zucker answering the question of when the broadcaster would beat Fox News and be the number one news channel he said, "Come back to me in three years. We have miles and miles to go. Fox is not only incredibly strong, they are incredibly dominant. It?s going to take a long time."

In terms of the plan for CNN he said, "What I want CNN to be is to be aggressive in news, coupled with programming like Anthony Bourdain."

"We need a number of programmes that you would not normally find on cable news networks but on places like Discovery, A&E, Nat Geo, we want to compete in that arena as well as the traditional cable news arena that CNN has traditionally been grouped into," he concluded.

MUMBAI: CNN?s new CEO Jeff Zucker has said the ?challenge for us is how to make CNN more essential, how to make it one of the four tyres on the car.?

Speaking publicly for the first time since taking the top job in January, Zucker told the listeners at an Atlanta Press Club lunch that the broadcaster needs to be more than a spare tyre in the trunk. ?You only take it out when you really need it. It?s not one of the four tyres on the car all the time.?

He has also said that CNN will continue to be based in Atlanta. ?I know that people know that I am the first Chief Executive of CNN not based in Atlanta. I did not make my first luncheon with the Press Club of New York. Atlanta will continue to the home of CNN, and Atlanta will continue to be the backbone of CNN.?

He conceded that he did not have a magic solution on how to make CNN better and more competitive. "I do not have all the answers. I do not even have half the answers."

The issue facing him is what will define CNN in its fourth decade. Previous defining moments have included its coverage of the first Gulf war. ?What will define the fourth decade? That is part of why I was really attracted to CNN. What will CNN be and how will it be defined in its fourth decade??

He spoke about the efforts that CNN has made to be diverse when it hires people.

MUMBAI: CNN has signed a multi-year broadcast affiliation agreement with Thai News Network (TNN), Thailand?s first 24-hour Thai- language news channel, which will provide TNN access to CNN?s live breaking news coverage, news and feature programming, as well as its video portal.

This agreement expands on the existing multi-platform partnership CNN has with TNN?s parent company, True Visions Group and includes provision of training and information sharing with CNN.

"CNN and Turner International Asia Pacific are delighted to be building further on our long-term partnership with True Visions Group, enabling TNN to provide the people of Thailand and Thai-speaking viewers across the world with best-in-class international news coverage," said Turner International Asia Pacific president and MD Steve Marcopoto.
 
"By entering into this affiliation agreement with CNN, TNN demonstrates its determination to deliver the best Thai-language international breaking news coverage to its viewers," added True Visions Executive Vice- Chairman and TNN Chairman Sompan Charumilinda.