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MUMBAI:
Kalaignar TV is taking the battle to Sun TV and will have
as its chief executive Sharad Kumar. An old friend of Kalanithi
Maran, Kumar had for long been closely associated with Sun
network.
Kumar,
who has a stake in the venture, is trying to hit at the strengths
of Sun. His task is to get production houses and creative
people desert Sun, acquire big movies, and set in process
a cable TV network that the government can run parallel to
Maran's SCV.
Sources
indicate Kalaignar TV, promoted by DMK supremo M Karunanidhi's
family, will mimic Tamil market leader Sun TV in terms of
its content strategy and business model.
The
Tamil entertainment channel, which will launch on 15 September,
is adopting a "slot sale" model and has already
lined up marketing agents to buy them. "We are anchoring
some slots but are selling most of them. This is a model Sun
has successfully mastered, getting content at no cost in these
slots," a source in the company says.
Kalaignar
TV is also aggressively piling up a movie library. "We
have acquired 350 movies. The big ones include Rajnikant starrer
Sivaji and Kamal Hassan’s Dasavatharam.
Sun, though, is way ahead," the source adds.
Kumar
has roped in AVM Productions which was earlier working with
Sun. But other production houses including Radaan have stayed
put with Sun so far. So Kumar has focussed his energy on tapping
directors like Sundar K Vijayan, and noted actress Khushboo
is going to do a show for the channel.
Kalaignar
TV has also brought K Balachandran, who was doing work for
Tamil channels like Jaya TV, into its net.
"AVM Productions is doing a prime time daily soap for
the channel. The plan is to get in noted directors if the
production houses don't budge. We are going to make an important
announcement in a few days time regarding this," says
the source.
Kumar
could not be contacted and other executives in Kalaignar TV
declined to comment on the plans of the channel. But work
is gong on at a rapid pace to see that the channel is quickly
up. "In 70 days, we have put the channel on test run.
And it is taking us just 100 days to launch a whole new channel,"
says the source.
On
the distribution front, Kalaignar TV has stitched deals with
the two existing direct-to-home (DTH) operators. It is also
being made available on all the cable networks. "Both
Dish TV and Tata Sky are carrying us. And on cable, we are
having total connectivity," says the source.
Analysts,
however, say it will be an uphill task to seriously impact
Sun TV which has dominated the market ever since its launch.
Kalaignar TV will have to get its content right to pose any
real threat to the Sun Network.
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