chennai Television

“Kalanidhi and Dayanidhi Maran may be trying to build bridges with Chief Minister M Karunanidhi and Stalin, but Azhagiri is not relenting. He is preparing to launch Royal Cable to take on the Marans’ Sumangali Cable Vision. Expect the fight to get dirtier Azhagiri’s stronghold Madurai, Theni, Dindigul, Virudhunagar, Tirunelveli and Thoothukudi” – This is what is claimed by New Indian Express in their Today’s edition.

The following are the excerpts of their article written by Gokulvannan, and Titled Cable War set to hot up.

A.RULING THE AIRWAVES
1. 10crore -Total population of Tamil Nadu
2. 2 crore estimated total number of cable connections in the State
3. 40,000 total number of cable operators in the State
4. 50lakh cable connections in southern districts
5. Average charge per connection 100-150 Rs
6. MSO’s share of the revenue 90per cent Cable operator’s share 10per cent

B. The State Government, which recently created its own cable operations company, Tamil Nadu Arasu Cable Television Corporation, significantly omitted Madurai from the list of places where it plans to set up MSO head-ends. This leaves it virtually open for Azhagiri to mount a challenge to SCV’s near monopoly in the region. According to cable industry sources in Madurai, he has already roped in some of key persons managing the SCV operations in the southern dis tricts and is working hard to wean away cable operators from the SCV fold.

C. Several senior members of the Cable Operators Guild, who were eagerly awaiting the launch of operations by Arasu Cable, now fear that they may get caught in the crossfire of the cable war between Azhagiri and the Marans.Operators in Madurai already had a taste of it a few months ago when a section of cable operators got together, allegedly at the behest of Azhagiri, to set up their own MSO and offer 50 free-to-air channels at Rs 50 a month. This was seen as a move not only to counter SCV but also the direct-to-home (DTH) offer by the Sun TV Group.A potentially explosive situation had developed with the cables of some of the Operators being cut but was defused due to intervention of the ‘powers that be’ in Chennai. The plan for the rival MSO was also dropped at the time.

D. KEY PLAYERS IN SOUTHERN DISTRICTS
1. Sumangali Cable Vision (SCV) : Run by the Marans.Has near total monopoly in Madurai and Tirunelveli; 60 per cent market share in other places
2.Akash Cable Network: Strong in six major centres, including Dindigul, Theni, Tirumangalam and parts of Kanyakumari. Now reported to have thrown in its lot with Azhagiri
3. TV Ramesh: In Thoothukudi, Kodaikanal and parts of Dindigul. Is an SCV loyalist
4.Others: Dozen independent MSOs in places like Rajapalayam, Tenkasi and Virudhunagar

More…..

The surprise meeting between the Chairman and Managing Director of Sun TV Network and Dinakaran Tamil daily Kalanithi Maran and DMK president Karunanidhi and MK Stalin has created hope that the meet may signal a new thaw in the relationship between the Marans and the Chief Minister’s family.

Saturday’s birthday bash of Local Administration Minister MK Stalin proved to be a catalyst and Kalanidhi met both Karunanidhi and Stalin.

Sources in the DMK, said most members of Karunanidhi’s family desire a reconciliation to happen. Interestingly, Stalin is said to be showing keenness in ending the sense of alienation among the larger family.

However, the road block to rapprochement is said to be the overlapping business interests of Marans and the political aspirations of the DMK president’s immediate family members.

Also how Azhagiri the elder son will digest this new episode is a moot point. The Sun TV still operates from Arivalayam and No doors are closed as yet. The cross overs and the people who took sides are bound to get jittery. Dayanidhi Maran was seen sitting in treasury benches during budget presentation and has also met Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi recently. Karunanidhi wrote a provoking Poem and the marans are said to have responded that they know how to retaliate if stretched beyond limits. But all this was before the birthday of the Youth wing president, 56 year old Stalin, the heir apparent.

We had predicted earlier that some day this could happen. But we never thought so soon.
The following is what we wrote in the posting Break the remote or stop the breaks

“There are also many who feel the fight is not real. And even if so may not last long. Sun TV still operates from anna arivalayam and the marans are not flexing their muscles. Before their split it was a weopen in hands of opposition that because of sun TV DMK is going slow in cauvery and mullaiperiyar dispute. Now that is forgotten. Was the split a melodrama to get this result? Now eighty percent of kalaignar TV staff is from SUN TV and may be soon kalaignar TV will gobble Raj TV. And then it is monopoly”

Notorious for irritating frequent and long commercial breaks, the television channels are good taxpayers giving to the exchequer more than one-third of their pre-tax profits, much higher than the industry average of about 20 per cent.

The television channels have paid 36.37 per cent of their profit as tax compared to the industry average of 20.60 per cent, said finance ministry’s data of the corporate tax paid by 3.28 lakh companies during 2006-07.

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The data pointed out that during the year 167 television channels on a profit of Rs 788.9 crore paid Rs 286.9 crore as tax to the government.

The 36.37 per cent tax paid by television channels was only next to forest contractors, security agencies and courier services, which paid 39.33 per cent, 37.80 per cent and 37.64 per cent respectively, of their profits as tax to the exchequer.
Source: Newstoday

Tomorrow is an important day in the history of ruling DMK. Whether it will be an announcement or indication is the moot point. But the coronation of a future chief minister will be the news in the next couple of days. Today morning a walk the talk pattern interview of Stalin by Ramesh prabha in Kalaignar TV was the curtain riser. They shot it in the venue and showed the venue decoration. The official estimate is ten lakhs. Many schools and colleges in the area has been booked. All marriage halls in the town are booked. Nearly five lakhs are estimated to attend. Most probably live telecast by Kalignar TV or a recorded version will surly be coming.

In the race to catch the attention of the public, the Chief Minister and the Local Administration Minister, during their visit to the youth wing conference, the local DMK leaders have displayed their innovative spirit through various hoardings and posters that have entirely changed the hue of the ‘halwa city.’

Hoardings, put up by Malairaja, MLA, is an eye catcher. One of the boards that beeline the busy Vannarpettai traffic junction has the mug shots of great men, including Buddha, Betrand Russell and Darwin with a note of their achievements.

Some other banners kept on either side of the Thiruvananthapuram Road have many rare pictures of the Chief Minister in his earlier days.

A group of students from St Xavier’s College said they were thrilled to see the CM in full suit and curly hair.

Surprisingly, the arches put across the roads are so aesthetically designed that instead of criticising them for creating traffic congestion, most of the commuters praised the creativity of the artistes.

Never before has a DMK show been so lavish. In fact, preparations for the state-level youth wing conference scheduled for December 15 and 16 at Tirunelveli — a backward and communally sensitive town — has all the shades of a coronation ceremony.

A pandal has been constructed on the medical college ground to accommodate five lakh people. There has been so much hype over the conference that the massive pandal, called the ‘Nellai Whitehouse’, has become a tourist attraction for residents of surrounding villages and districts.