KOLKATA: Aakash Aath, a Bengali general entertainment channel (GEC) has said that though the focus of the channel has shifted, it still intends to keep news as part of its programme offering.

It should be noted that Aakash Aath which was once a 24 hour news channel, has reduced the news slot to one hour at present. It airs news everyday from 4.30pm to 5pm and then again at night from 10.30pm to11pm.

“Aakash Aath has undergone a change of format from news to GEC. We want our viewers to get news from us so that they do not have to shift elsewhere. Our news is positioned at a place where if you see one hour of this news you don’t need to see any other news channel,” said Aakash Aath director Eshita Surana.

The channel will continue to air one hour of news bulletin. “At present we are not sourcing any content from anywhere but creating our own and we intend to continue this. No plans of any change in near future,” she added.

Aakash Aath started off as Akash Bangla, a 24 hour Bengali entertainment channel with soaps like Kurukhetro, Shanai, Prabahini, Dotta, and Choritroheen. The channel later changed its format to become a 24 hour current affair and news channel in early 2012.

But after Channel 8, a Kolkata-headquartered production company bought majority stake in the channel more than a year ago, the format has changed again. “The channel will always have a news bulletin,” concluded Surana.