Will the ‘Sun’ rise for Raj TV

Politics and market dynamics in the southern state of Tamil Nadu has to be looked in a separate perspective different from the whole country. When it comes to elections, the state votes overwhelmingly in favour of a single party and political incumbency is normally the case. As regards television channels, the space is also dominated by political parties, with AIADMK leader owning Jaya TV, Maran of DMK owning Sun TV while Raj TV owned by a private businessman.

After the crisis over the poll on DMK successor and subsequent resignation of IT Minister, Maran, the shares of Sun TV have fallen substantially while Raj TV has risen to a life time high. Sun is the leading television broadcaster in southern states of Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, and Karnataka, most significant markets in India after the Hindi-language markets. Networks such as Star and Zee have made forays into these markets but with limited results. When compared with other Hindi channels, Sun is only second to Star and above Sony and Zee.

Sun TV is merging Gemini TV (in Andhra Pradesh) and Udaya TV (in Karnataka), has an extensive film library, and has won licences for 44 FM stations. But with the changing political environment within the DMK and resulting backlash, the performance of the company would be affected.

On the other hand, shares of Raj TV are on a roll after the recent political happenings, and the channel has become a virtual mouthpiece of Karunanidhi government and the broadcaster has named a new channel after the Chief Minister’s name. It plans to launch 11 new channels and partner with DTH provider, either Tata Sky or Dish TV. This is in sharp contrast to Sun TV’s plans of not giving signals to DTH provider (even after directives from TRAI), as Sun itself is starting its own DTH services.

As  consequence of the party turmoil, Raj TV is sure to get benefits at the expense of Sun TV as it receives political patronage from the ruling party. Though both the channels could get affected on account of certain factors like change in leadership in the state and competition, which may intensify as Star and Zee may invest significant amounts owing to growing market and stabilisation of the Hindi television space.

Ironically, DMK’s party symbol is rising ‘Sun’.