Times Now editor Arnab Goswami quits, possibly to partner with Murdoch-led venture

"The nation wants to know," a now-famous punchline attributed to Arnab Goswami, a loud, opinionated and divisive news anchor who has become a household name in India, seems to have been turned back on him, for the moment. The Indian media industry and the nation's prime time news consumers have been captivated by Goswami's next move since news broke on Tuesday, 1 November, that he was leaving popular news network Times Now.

Goswami, who anchored The Newshour, was the editor of Times Now and ET Now — top English news channels from the Times of India Group — resigned from his position at the media conglomerate and speculation is rife that he is moving on to helm a channel to be launched by media mogul Rupert Murdoch in partnership with Bengaluru-based business tycoon and politician, Rajeev Chandrasekhar.

While IBTimes UK has contacted Fox News for comment and is awaiting a reply, Chandrasekhar's spokesperson said, "We do not comment on market speculation." Chandrasekhar is also a member of the Indian parliament's upper house or Rajya Sabha.

The news of Goswami's resignation was aired on Chandrasekhar's FM channel Radio Indigo in Bengaluru on 1 November at around 6.30pm local time, soon after Goswami announced to his staff in Mumbai that he was moving on from the Times Group.

Announcing his departure, the Oxford-educated Goswami told his colleagues that independent media was going to thrive, adding: "The game has just begun."

IBTimes UK spoke to a source at Times Now, who said others from the channel may move out and join him at the right time. "I'm not sure whether he was in talks with Fox News, but I guess he wants to remain in Mumbai and will continue to be in digital journalism," the source, who did not want to be named, said.

An employee at one of Chandrasekhar's firms said on the condition of anonymity: "There is some buzz in the office. We have been looking for office space in the city [Bengaluru] for some time now. Although I'm not sure whether it is for a studio or some other business. He [Chandrasekhar] has more than 20 other businesses and also has Jupiter Media and Entertainment Venture, which owns regional language news and movie channels. So an English news channel could be in the pipeline."

Since news of the resignation broke, there has been speculation that the nightly news anchor, may venture out as an entrepreneur and launch a news platform that would challenge global channels.

Times Now was launched in the UK on 16 November 2015 to compete with broadcasters such as Al Jazeera and BBC.