A television channel war will soon hit the southern Indian state of Kerla. The state marked by religious sentiments and a huge television viewing audience has attracted over six players wanting to eat the pie.
Apart from Doordarshan‘s service, Kalanithi Maran‘s Sun TV Network‘s Surya TV and Asianet catered to the Malayalam audience. Zee Telefilms Limited‘s acquisition of Asianet opened the eyes of many players who now all want to tap the niche market.

Recently, Malyalam Communications, formed by the Communist Party of India (Marxist) announced its recruiting spree for their upcoming channel Malyalam TV. More in the line is the Muslim League.
The Communist Party wants to portray their ‘ideologies‘ over the television channel. A similar plan has been laid by the Muslim League.

The high number of Christians in the state has tempted a player to launch a Christian Channel which will focus on the Keralite Christian community situated in Kerala as well as in the Middle-East.

Will sentiments on which the political channels are banking, last for long? Do people want ideologies or infotainment? Do they want to know about religion and political agendas rather than entertainment?
Doubts will be raised over the survival of channels with not much deep pockets. Advertisers beware...

Karnataka based Manipal Group, which is worth Rs 20 billion, is planning a major expansion drive and is looking at an IPO worth Rs 3 billion to fund its expansion activities. The company is expected to come out with the IPO by June this year.
Half of the amount raised by IPO will go towards funding its media ventures while rest will be for housing and infotech.

The group plans to launch a 24-hour Kannada entertainment channel in the next six months. The channel will be called ‘Tarang TV‘. An educational channel and a regional news channel are also in the offing in a year‘s time. Tarang TV will have 12 hours of original programming. The channel is also looking at foreign partners to provide content for the kid‘s slot which will be aired on it. The channel will be beamed off AsiaSat-3. An animation studio will also be set up in Banglore.

Apart from this the Manipal Group is also looking at introducing new women‘s magazine. The magazine is expected to be launched within 3 months time.

Manipal Group will also be making its foray into the Internet with a women‘s portal called shesindia.com. The site, which will be launched in 45 days, will generate revenues from advertising, sponsorships and ecommerce.

i2i Media Ltd launched ‘Suprabhatha‘, the 24 hour Kannada channel on 16 April, 2000. The digital channel is beamed on Thaicom-3 and boasts of programming from all genres.

The channel is all set to give some competition to ‘Udaya‘ belonging to Karunanidi Maran‘s Sun TV Network.

The British televsision house Sky Television Network has revealed that the media magnate Rupert Murdoch is suffering from a low grade prostrate cancer. The News Corp boss‘ routine health check-up revealed this. Doctors are expected to commence radiotherapy in a short span of time. The prognosis is reported to be good.

Zee Telefilms‘ Limited (ZTL) has decided to hike its stake in Asianet Communications to 61 per cent, according to Business Standard. The board has passed a resolution to this effect on 14 April. The company had earlier decided to acquire 51 per cent stake in the south Indian television powerhouse.
In consideration, ZTL will pay Rs 1 billion to Asianet Communications‘ promoters for a ‘non-compete‘ clause under which no promoter will be allowed to start any competing business. The 61 per cent stake would have a consideration of ZTL stocks worth ARs 2.55 billion.

Asianet promoter Raji Menon will come on ZTL board while Subhash Chandra will be on the board of Asianet Communications.

The newest acquisition by ZTL will give the media powerhouse a greater stand in the southern market where it lacked much presence and also access to Asianet‘s cable networks in Kerla. Besides this, it will have access Asianet‘s library of 4,000 hours of original programming and 1,200 movie titles which Zee will use for international broadcast.

ZTL will now claim a presence in all 22 million C&S homes.