[Reader-list] Now, a saffron TV channel

[Subhash]

Now, a TV channel from saffron stable
Harie, Nov 18, 2010, 05.28am IST

HYDERABAD: If TV viewers in the state thought that there is an
overkill of news channels projecting the political news and viewpoints
of leading politicians and parties, the field might get a little more
crowded in a few months time.

Convinced that the idiot box is the route to political success and
growth, state BJP president G Kishan Reddy too is all set to go live
24/7.

Kishan Reddy told TOI that a TV news channel is on the cards but
clarified that it will not be the mouthpiece of the BJP but more to
project his agenda though it will be in sync with the party's to a
large extent. "The channel is on course but still a few months away as
there are several loose ends that needs to be tied up," he said.

What sounds interesting is the appetite for risk by the young BJP
president to project himself as a potential leader and venture into a
domain that continuously bleeds owners revenue. That too at a time
when the public is already exposed to 32 local TV channels. The
minimum amount required to launch a channel would be about Rs 16 crore
and can go up to about Rs 50 crore with the monthly operational cost
hovering in the range of Rs 2 crore to Rs 10 crore. Kishan Reddy,
however, was not willing to reveal the start-up or operational cost of
his channel. It is not known whether the Reddy brothers from
neighbouring Karnataka would have anything to do with the channel.

Separatist party, Telangana Rashtra Samiti, has a dedicated news
channel 'Raj News' to propagate the cause of Telangana, while other
channels like Zee 24 Gantalu and HMTV are suspected of having a
leaning towards Telangana.
Though it supposedly began as a Congress mouthpiece, Sakshi TV became
the voice of Kadapa MP Y S Jaganmohan Reddy. Other news channels like
TV5, iNews and NTV too have a pro-Jagan slant.

Besides active backing of channels like ETV, Mahaa TV and ABN Andhra
Jyothy, the Telugu Desam Party has an exclusive channel in Studio N.
Interestingly, Gemini News, owned by Sun Network, and the top-rated
Telugu news channel TV9, for now, are not directly linked to any
particular political party in the state. Praja Rajyam Party president
K Chiranjeevi has a television channel of his own, Maa TV, but has
abandoned its news division. It, however, promotes movies of
Chiranjeevi and his family members in a big way.

Given such background, Kishan Reddy's move to launch a TV channel
doesn't really come as a big surprise, though it arouses enough
curiosity on the kind of flavour it would adopt to make an entry with
a bang.

The BJP chief's aides said he has been working overtime to rope in
like-minded people to make the channel a reality.

"Kishan is testing the waters, especially when the Telangana movement
has reached a critical phase. We also want to reach out to the people
of Telangana region and spread word that BJP alone was the first
political party to have made up its mind on the formation of a
separate state and it was the only effective political alternative to
the Congress party," an aide of the BJP president said.

Read more: Now, a TV channel from saffron stable - The Times of India
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/hyderabad/Now-a-TV-channel-from-saffron-stable/articleshow/6944901.cms#ixzz15e8MZeHw