The New Age owned by the Gupta family is launching a 24-hour channel in August. The new channel will be broadcast as part of the DStv premier bouquet. and will be taking the place of the SABC?s planned 24-hour news channel, which will no longer be airing on DStv.

City Press reports that Sources within the New Age said they were notified two weeks ago that the company was moving into television. The newspaper?s headquarters in Midrand has been under construction with walls broken down to accommodate equipment for the new studio, which will be next to the existing newsroom.

MultiChoice CEO Imtiaz Patel who confirmed to City Press the launch of the channel said MultiChoice would not pay the New Age for hosting the channel while industry experts say there has been no indication that the New Age is poaching any technically skilled employees to implement their TV channel plans.

According to viewership figures from Markinor, e-NCA commands 70% of the total DStv news viewership. However this did not faze Patrick Conroy, head of the only local 24-hour news network who said, ?I don?t know enough about what they?re planning but our strategy has always been to focus on our own game. SABC has also been threatening a 24-hour news channel and the same applies there.?

Meanwhile the SABC also has no broadcast (No pun intended) about the New Age?s 24-hours news channel plans. Hlaudi Motsoeneng, chief operating officer of the SABC said the public broadcaster would only be going on air with its own 24-hour news channel once the much-anticipated Digital Terrestrial TV (DTT) has been launched, which will be able to carry their channel.

?We decided to revisit our decision to air on DStv, as it will not reach our audience. The only talks we?ve had with the New Age are about extending the (business) breakfast shows to cater for rural areas. We are moving towards town hall discussion in rural areas,? he added.

Its understood discussions between MultiChoice and the New Age have been ongoing since 2011. The Gupta family?s Oakbay Investments is one of the investors in the channel that apparently also has foreign financial backing.

The New Age was in the news recently after City Press revealed the company receives multimillion-rand sponsorships from state-owned entities to host the New Age business breakfasts. The Guptas are also family friends of President Jacob Zuma. Zuma?s son, Duduzane, is in business with the family.