MUMBAI: Kalanithi Maran's Sun Network has bought out Tamil publication giant Dinakaran. With this deal, Maran, who enjoys prominence in television and FM radio, has now entered the newspaper market.

Confirming the development to indiantelevision.com, Sun TV vice-president (programmes) Hansraj Saxena says, "This is a 100 per cent buy out. We are planning to relaunch Dinakaran in a big manner. This will be Sun's stepping stone into the newspaper space."

The deal between Maran and Kumaran was signed yesterday (16 June). As per the deal, all the Dinakaran group publications now will move to Sun. Presently, Dinakaran is the third largest daily in Tamil.

The Dinakaran group of publications, owned by K Kumaran, has the flagship daily Dinakaran, eveningers Mali Murasu and Tamizh Murasu under its umbrella. Apart from this, the publication behemoth also has three weeklies Yogalatchumi, Velai Vazhikatti and Vaniga Ulagam.

Sun Network already has a Tamil magazine Kungumum, which has risen on the stands like the proverbial phoenix. Kungumum was the most significant mover over the last three years among the magazines and stood in the fourth position as per the NRS 2005 findings. Kungumum's readership in 2003 was 765,000 and it ranked 81st in the NRS 2003 survey. Since then the magazine has increased its viewership manifold. At present the magazine's viewership stands at 5,571,000.