News Broadcasting
Sun TV spearheads channel war in south
After waiting for nearly seven years to launch his first four channels, Kalanithi Maran, the 35-year old chairman and managing director of Sun TV, is now going all out and launching four new channels within a span of seven weeks.May 19 saw the launch of their new Telegu movie & music channel, Teja TV. The channel is expected to take on market leader Ramoji Roa’s Eenadu TV. The total ad revenue for the state is about Rs 1.3 billion and Eenadu has the lions share of almost Rs 600 million, Sun’s Gemini is second with Rs 400 million share.
Sun also launched its second Kannada channel, Ushe Tv which is also a music and movie channel. Though the channel has no competition in the state, (the only popular satellite channel in the state is Sun’s Udaya TV) the move to start another Kannada channel is seen as more of an defensive step. This is because the all the state needs is another Kannada channel and there will be a huge dent in the ad revenue distribution in the state. Udaya TV, incidentally grabs a huge chunk of almost Rs 600 million out of the total market of Rs 850 million. The other channel is the state owned DD-9.
Apart from this Maran also plans to launch a 24-hour news channel, Udaya News, which will air news in Kannda and English.
This major offensive on Maran’s part is unlike his characteristic behaviour which he has displayed in the past. But if you have indusrty heavyweights like Subhash Chandra and Ramoji Rao as your competitors it is definitely justified on Maran’s part to go all out in trying to get the first move advantage.
News Broadcasting
News18 India to air Sabse Bada Dangal on 4 May counting day
Channel promises fastest results, live trends and analysis across five states.
MUMBAI: Ballots will do the talking and screens will do the shouting. As counting day approaches for high-stakes Assembly elections across West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Assam and Puducherry, News18 India is gearing up for an all-day broadcast of its flagship election show, Sabse Bada Dangal, on 4 May from 6 am onwards. The Hindi news channel plans to deliver continuous, real-time updates as votes are tallied, combining live counting data with on-ground reporting and studio analysis. With political fortunes set to shift through the day, the coverage will track every swing, surge and surprise as trends turn into results.
The broadcast will feature a mix of senior political leaders, analysts and experts, offering instant reactions and decoding the evolving electoral picture. Expect heated debates, quick takes and detailed breakdowns as the numbers settle across all five states.
For News18 India, counting day has long been a high-visibility moment. The network is banking on its reporting reach, editorial bandwidth and technology-driven coverage to stay ahead in what is often a fiercely competitive news cycle.
With multiple battlegrounds and shifting narratives, the day promises both drama and data in equal measure. And if all goes to plan, Sabse Bada Dangal will once again turn the counting of votes into prime-time spectacle.
