The much anticipated launch on May 6?

NEW DELHI (TIP): Star India‘s online streaming service Hotstar has announced that news channel Republic TV will be made available on its platform, a first of its kind partnership between a news channel and an online streaming service, in India.

Chairman & CEO, Star India Uday Shankar, in a statement issued, said “We are deeply committed to making sure that we continuously widen Hotstar’s offering, and the launch of Republic TV on Hotstar fills a big gap in our portfolio.”

Editor-in-Chief, Republic TV, Arnab Goswami said the tie-up will ensure that one can watch the news on the go. “We are confident of breaking the digital barrier and believe this is the first step as news produced in India goes digital and then global. We believe the coming together of these two exciting brands and services will take news to the 90 million plus viewers on Hotstar every month.”

Earlier this week, Republic TV announced that it will use a range of Microsoft products and services that are designed to make newsrooms more productive. Microsoft Azure will host Republic’s digital platforms.

The channel also announced that it will be a free to air channel. On dish satellite providers, it will be available on TataSky – channel no. 616, Airtel Digital TV – 376 and DishTV -771.

Republic TV is part of ARG Outlier Media Private Limited. Among its main investors are Rajya Sabha MP’s Rajeev Chandrashekar’s Asianet News Online Private Limited, and SARG Media Holding Private Limited which is owned by Goswami himself. (Source IE Business)