ragavindia
Regular
Monday, May 21, 2007 (Chennai)
The parting of ways between the DMK and the Maran brothers is now leading to a media war.
RAJ TV is all set to launch a new channel, Kalaignar TV, named after the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister. The channel is set for launch in August and will add to the TV channels owned or backed by political parties in the state.
AIADMK owns Jaya TV in the state and the PMK owns Makkal TV.
Kalaignar means literary artiste and Karunanidhi is popularly referred by this name. Now the DMK patriarch will have a 24-hour TV News Channel named after him.
The proposed channel, to be launched by Raj Group of Channels, is owned by Raajendhran, a copyright video distributor who started Raj TV 14 years ago.
But in a state where political parties own TV Channels, Raj TV was not able to take on SUN TV, the recently estranged channel of the DMK and owned by Karunanidhi's grand nephew Kalanidhi Maran, or Jaya TV.
With relations strained between the DMK and the Maran brothers, Raj TV, which lost its direct uplink license in 2004, has got a new lease of life.
''I love Kalaignar. So I asked him if I could use his name and he said ok,'' said M Raajendhran, CMD, Raj TV.
Raajendhran, however, says that he will be neutral while covering news.
Unofficial mouthpiece
The sidelining of SUN TV has been swift. 'Raj TV was chosen to telecast Chief Minister Karunanidhi's recent golden jubilee felicitation live.
Sun TV, which has a major presence in the cable distribution business in the state, has been headquartered at the DMK party office since its inception. Now it has been asked to vacate and its 16,000 crore network is set to move to the up market MRC Nagar in Chennai.
Many believe this signals the end of the DMK's 15-year relationship with its media empire.
During this period SUN TV had played a role in the DMKs capture of power in 1996 through its anti-Jayalalithaa propaganda and later created a sympathy wave over DMK Chief Karunanidhi's dramatic midnight arrest.
Sources say the DMK is also exploring the possibility of starting its own Tamil news channel and a daily newspaper. Till that happens, Kalaignar TV, hopes to function as the party's unofficial mouthpiece.
The parting of ways between the DMK and the Maran brothers is now leading to a media war.
RAJ TV is all set to launch a new channel, Kalaignar TV, named after the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister. The channel is set for launch in August and will add to the TV channels owned or backed by political parties in the state.
AIADMK owns Jaya TV in the state and the PMK owns Makkal TV.
Kalaignar means literary artiste and Karunanidhi is popularly referred by this name. Now the DMK patriarch will have a 24-hour TV News Channel named after him.
The proposed channel, to be launched by Raj Group of Channels, is owned by Raajendhran, a copyright video distributor who started Raj TV 14 years ago.
But in a state where political parties own TV Channels, Raj TV was not able to take on SUN TV, the recently estranged channel of the DMK and owned by Karunanidhi's grand nephew Kalanidhi Maran, or Jaya TV.
With relations strained between the DMK and the Maran brothers, Raj TV, which lost its direct uplink license in 2004, has got a new lease of life.
''I love Kalaignar. So I asked him if I could use his name and he said ok,'' said M Raajendhran, CMD, Raj TV.
Raajendhran, however, says that he will be neutral while covering news.
Unofficial mouthpiece
The sidelining of SUN TV has been swift. 'Raj TV was chosen to telecast Chief Minister Karunanidhi's recent golden jubilee felicitation live.
Sun TV, which has a major presence in the cable distribution business in the state, has been headquartered at the DMK party office since its inception. Now it has been asked to vacate and its 16,000 crore network is set to move to the up market MRC Nagar in Chennai.
Many believe this signals the end of the DMK's 15-year relationship with its media empire.
During this period SUN TV had played a role in the DMKs capture of power in 1996 through its anti-Jayalalithaa propaganda and later created a sympathy wave over DMK Chief Karunanidhi's dramatic midnight arrest.
Sources say the DMK is also exploring the possibility of starting its own Tamil news channel and a daily newspaper. Till that happens, Kalaignar TV, hopes to function as the party's unofficial mouthpiece.
