Dilli Aaj Tak is the new and younger sibling — and Delhi’s first dedicated TV news channel from a well-known house. It was introduced last month and sports a bright yellow and red colour scheme (in keeping with its age?), while Aaj Tak prefers the the more sober red, white and grey.

Apart from family resemblances, what’s stands out about Dilli Aaj Tak is its spartan approach. It keeps things simple: on a random switch to the channel, the chances are you will see the following: crime in Delhi, crime in Delhi and more crime in Delhi. No wonder some people call it the crime capital of the country.

Watching the channel has been an absolute revelation: didn’t know there was so much crime in such abundant variety here. You have to salute the criminals — they leave nothing to the imagination. During a few hours Dilli Aaj Tak had come up with the following: two criminals involved in bank robbery, Preet Vihar lover sets fire on his girlfriend, DGB Road miscreants loot five lakhs, multi-crore housing scheme scam unearthed, three arrested with smack, DRI arrests Indonesian girl in Nizamuddin with 3 kilos of heroin, Sanatam Dharma temple robbery (is nothing sacred?), robbery in Rohini — Rs 25,000 stolen, water mafia active throughout city, kerosene stolen, SHO removed for protecting rape accused, fire...

If it’s not crime, it’s the weather (including the longest story on the longest day of the year), or promos. No channel runs as many promos as Dilli Aaj Tak. Some are very good but the reason for their lavish numbers is that the advertisers are few and something must fill the break between crime and the city.

... contd.