ABP Ananda is the leading Bengali-language TV news channel in India. Launched in 2005 as Star Ananda, as a joint venture between the Bengali-language ABP Group and Star TV, ABP Group acquired full control of the channel (as well as Star’s other news channels at the time, Star News and Star Majha) in 2012, renaming them to use the ABP name on 1 June 2012. Its competitors include Zee 24 Ghanta, Kolkata TV, News Time Bangla, News18 Bangla and Calcutta News.
Since its inception, it has used the slogan Egiye Thake, Egiye Rakhe (Stays Ahead, Keeps You Ahead).
Star Ananda was launched on 6 June 2005 as a joint venture between Star TV and ABP Group. Until December 2020, the channel used mostly the same idents and theme music since its launch, as well as the slogan Egiye Thake, Egiye Rakhe (Stays Ahead, Keeps You Ahead).
Star India exited the news business in 2012, selling it to the ABP Group, which already had a stake in Star Ananda. Therefore, on 1 June 2012, Star News (Hindi), Star Ananda (Bengali) and Star Majha (Marathi) were renamed to ABP News, ABP Ananda and ABP Majha, respectively.
Two weeks later, on 17 June, Bengali entertainment channel Star Jalsha, ABP Ananda’s former sister channel, introduced a new graphics package that lasted it until February 2019.
2020–present
The channels and properties of the ABP Network (ABP News, ABP Ananda, ABP Majha, ABP Asmita, ABP Sanjha, ABP Ganga and the news portal ABP Live) rebranded with a new logo scheme on 16 December 2020, removing the box from around the channel logos. The new brand identity was conceptualised by Saffron Brand Consultants.
Moreover, all the TV channels moved their logo bugs from the traditional top right corner, the standard for most Indian news channels, to the rarely-used bottom left corner (which was always used by ABP Ganga since its launch in 2019).
Notes: 1Originally owned, sold or discontinued by The Walt Disney Company India before its acquisition of Star. 2Joint venture with Tata Group. 3Sold to ABP Group. 4Sold to CJ ENM. 5Joint venture between Star and Viacom. Dissolved in 1994 with the launch of Channel V and Channel V India. 6Sold to China Media Capital. 7Sold to Visi Media Asia, which had owned 80% of the channel (Star formerly owned 20%). 8Rebranded from Star to Fox channels in 2017. Defunct since 1 October 2021. 9Relaunched as Pinoy Box Office, later known as PBO.
