ajuravi007
Regulars
New Delhi (PTI): The "political war" in the television studios is expected to intensify in Tamil Nadu, where almost all the TV channels are identified with some political parties, with actor-politician Vijayakant planning to launch a 24-hour entertainment venture to air his party's views.
The decision by Vijayakant, founder-leader of DMDK to launch a channel comes at a time when the political parties in Tamil Nadu are vying with each other to float channels in a bid to 'reserve place' in the satellite TV arena - a sure shot way of reaching the drawing rooms of millions of people.
"Captain (Vijayakant) has decided to launch a TV channel and a fortnightly magazine. We have already started working on it. It will be a 24-hr entertainment channel with news bulletins," L K Sudeesh, party leader and the actor's brother-in-law, told PTI from Chennai.
Almost all the television channels which air news bulletins are identified with some or the other political parties in the state.
"This trend of parties starting television channel is not healthy at all. Tamil Nadu is a peculiar state when it comes to television channels where the political parties have started dominating the TV arena," media analyst Sasikumar told PTI.
Since its launch on September 15, Kalaignar TV, promoted by Chief Minister Karunanidhi's family, has been functioning as the "mouthpiece" of both the party and the DMK government, while Jaya TV has long been identified as the official channel of AIADMK.
The faction-ridden Tamil Nadu Congress Committee has two channels to its credit -- Mega TV floated by party MP K V Thangabalu and MLA Vasantha Kumar's Vasanth TV -- while the Pattali Makkal Katchi has Makkal TV to air its views.
After the feud between the Marans and DMK's first family, Raj TV -- another leading channel in Tamil Nadu -- too joined the DMK bandwagon and is providing telecast assistance to Karunanidhi's Kalaingar TV.
With the Maran brothers losing out the favour of Chief Minister M Karunanidhi, Sun TV, owned by them, has switched "loyalty" from the DMK and has been giving importance to new entrants in politics like Vijayakant and another actor-politician Sarath Kumar in its news bulletin, widely watched across South India.
Sudeesh said the new television channel to be launched by this year will have entertainment programmes, sops and news bulletins like any other satellite venture.
"We have been planning to start a TV channel since 1995, but due to some or the other reason we could not do it. But, since we have a political party we thought its high time to start a channel of our own," he said.
However, Sasikumar said that the parties use the "powerful" medium to settle their scores and the common man's right to information is being curtailed.
"They (political parties) fight between them through the channels and certainly people are not the beneficiaries of the media in Tamil Nadu," he said.
"It is only the party cadres who benefit from the channels."
"The political colour is not just confined to news bulletins alone but sometimes the hue gets into entertainment content also, which I feel is very bad," Sasikumar said.
Sudeesh also exuded confidence that his channel would be commercially successful. Vijayakant, who accused the electronic media of being "biased" in the past, had opposed the state government's recent decision to launch a Cable TV Corporation saying that it would not serve any purpose.
The Hindu News Update Service
The decision by Vijayakant, founder-leader of DMDK to launch a channel comes at a time when the political parties in Tamil Nadu are vying with each other to float channels in a bid to 'reserve place' in the satellite TV arena - a sure shot way of reaching the drawing rooms of millions of people.
"Captain (Vijayakant) has decided to launch a TV channel and a fortnightly magazine. We have already started working on it. It will be a 24-hr entertainment channel with news bulletins," L K Sudeesh, party leader and the actor's brother-in-law, told PTI from Chennai.
Almost all the television channels which air news bulletins are identified with some or the other political parties in the state.
"This trend of parties starting television channel is not healthy at all. Tamil Nadu is a peculiar state when it comes to television channels where the political parties have started dominating the TV arena," media analyst Sasikumar told PTI.
Since its launch on September 15, Kalaignar TV, promoted by Chief Minister Karunanidhi's family, has been functioning as the "mouthpiece" of both the party and the DMK government, while Jaya TV has long been identified as the official channel of AIADMK.
The faction-ridden Tamil Nadu Congress Committee has two channels to its credit -- Mega TV floated by party MP K V Thangabalu and MLA Vasantha Kumar's Vasanth TV -- while the Pattali Makkal Katchi has Makkal TV to air its views.
After the feud between the Marans and DMK's first family, Raj TV -- another leading channel in Tamil Nadu -- too joined the DMK bandwagon and is providing telecast assistance to Karunanidhi's Kalaingar TV.
With the Maran brothers losing out the favour of Chief Minister M Karunanidhi, Sun TV, owned by them, has switched "loyalty" from the DMK and has been giving importance to new entrants in politics like Vijayakant and another actor-politician Sarath Kumar in its news bulletin, widely watched across South India.
Sudeesh said the new television channel to be launched by this year will have entertainment programmes, sops and news bulletins like any other satellite venture.
"We have been planning to start a TV channel since 1995, but due to some or the other reason we could not do it. But, since we have a political party we thought its high time to start a channel of our own," he said.
However, Sasikumar said that the parties use the "powerful" medium to settle their scores and the common man's right to information is being curtailed.
"They (political parties) fight between them through the channels and certainly people are not the beneficiaries of the media in Tamil Nadu," he said.
"It is only the party cadres who benefit from the channels."
"The political colour is not just confined to news bulletins alone but sometimes the hue gets into entertainment content also, which I feel is very bad," Sasikumar said.
Sudeesh also exuded confidence that his channel would be commercially successful. Vijayakant, who accused the electronic media of being "biased" in the past, had opposed the state government's recent decision to launch a Cable TV Corporation saying that it would not serve any purpose.
The Hindu News Update Service
