National

The Neutral Mantra

Shunning propaganda, Sun TV's independent-minded boss Kalanidhi Maran builds a viewer base

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The Neutral Mantra
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WHEN Kalanidhi Maran, son of Union industries minister Murasoli Maran and grandson of DMK supremo Muthuvel Karunanidhi, announced the launch of his private satellite channel in 1993, few were in doubt that it was a logical extension of the DMK's faith—"Medium is the Message." The name, Sun TV, too stood in a direct genealogy with the party's poll symbol, the Rising Sun.

But the 32-year-old Kalanidhi proved his detractors wrong. One of the first things he did was to establish the neutrality of his channel through Neru-K-Ner, a high-profile current affairs programme in which political personalities were invited for a face-to-face. As a matter of policy, Kalanidhi gave prominence to non-DMK leaders and DMK-bashing became a hallmark of the programme. DMK-baiters used the channel to espouse their politics and lent enormous credence to Sun and its promoter. Neru-K-Ner soon began to be recognised for its iconoclasm, irreverence and probity. "I have political beliefs," admits Kalanidhi. And they all reflect his loyalty to the DMK.

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 "I have never voted for any other party," he says. But politics is not meant for a TV channel. "Sun has only ethics, no ideology. People do not like propaganda. If TV can help you win elections, the Congress would not have lost any election since the Asiad in 1982. The death of Jay J TV is a potential lesson for anyone trying to reduce TV to a mere propaganda vehicle. Television is not for polemics, it is basically an entertainment media." With that Yankee-style work ethic firmly in mind, Kalanidhi set out to ensure that his Sun would shine for all the eyes in the south. 

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Today he may be a successful mediaman, but media was not his dream to start with. "I wanted to be a marketing wizard," he says. An MBA from the University of Stranton in Pennsylvania earned him that qualification. On his return in 1988, Pugazh, as he is known to family and friends, cut his teeth on the family-owned publication. As an apprentice in the Kumgumam group of publications, Kalanidhi spent six months getting a feel of each department—circulation, advertising, printing and editorial—before taking over the management from Papa Maran in 1990. 

Kalanidhi left his imprint on Kumgumam chiefly in two things: increasing the circulation and modernising the production process. At a time when both the regional press and film industry were losing out to the boom in the video cassettes market, Kalanidhi ensured that Kumgumam's circulation held its own at one lakh. He also dumped the old monotype used for production and brought in photocomposing. "That was the most satisfying period of my life," he recalls. At the same time, he worked in close association with Apple computers and produced a proper lipi keyboard for Tamil to replace the old, phonetic-based ones then in use. The team was also responsible for devising two Tamil fonts—Anna (after the DMK founder) and Kalaignar (Karunanidhi)—and they are the most extensively used fonts in Tamil today.

Despite his success, Kalanidhi had to shift focus to the small screen once he realised a sizeable chunk of advertising revenues was finding its way into television. He launched the first Tamil video magazine Poomalai (The Garland) on the auspicious occasion of Pongal (January 14) in 1991. The one-hour video capsule contained current affairs, a roundup of the film industry, Prannoy Roy's The World This Week, a human interest feature and an interview. With this experience, Kalanidhi began to understand both the limitations and the unlimited potential of the small screen.

The success of Star and Zee gave him further impetus to do something different for the Tamil viewer. "The prime time hegemony of Hindi on Doordarshan gave me the confidence necessary to tap the huge Tamil viewership," he reveals. From the November of 1992, Kalanidhi started laying the groundwork for a programme mix as well as transmission and reception facilities for an independent channel. On April 14, 1993, he was ready.

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But a number of initial hitches Sun TV faced conspired to delay the dawn. For starters, the sky itself was slippery. The uplinking from Moscow could not be coordinated from Chennai, the Russian satellite kept drifting from its orbit so that cable operators had problems receiving the signal and ATN, which leased out the transponder, kept shifting Sun TV from 103 E transponder to 87 E to 90 E to 84 E, creating endless confusion at the ground level. Not only this, the much-expected advertisement revenue did not flow to them, forcing doomsayers to predict the imminent closure of the channel. It was then that Kalanidhi invoked familiar spirits. "My grandfather M. Karunanidhi was my inspiration. He managed to keep the morale of the party high despite being out of power for 13 long years and being unjustly dismissed twice. I decided to fight back." And fight he did.

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As his first step, he changed the satellite. From an old, drifting Russian one to the relatively new RIMSAT in 1994. This, along with a newly-created battery of cable operators all over the state, helped Sun challenge the stranglehold of DD. That done, "our viewership increased, ads started coming in and the channel not only became viable but also profitable," says Kalanidhi.

Next, Kalanidhi tackled his programming mix. Initially, Sun lived by the staple diet of film-based programmes, supplemented by soap operas. Current affairs was strictly restricted to Neru-K-Ner. Kalanidhi slowly shifted the films to Sun Films and Sun Music and concentrated more on developing the current affairs base. Given his obvious party affiliations, Kalanidhi had to work that bit harder to establish his neutrality.

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TODAY his efforts seem to have paid off. Sun TV's news has been consistently ranked as the top programme in the south by the IMRB for the last 32 weeks. While Sun enjoys an average viewership of over 80 per cent, DD lags far behind at an average of 55 per cent. And as Kalanidhi mentions the 40 per cent revenue increase for his news programme, he also points out: "Our news is popular because we have basic training in journalism and do not dish out items like ministers cutting ribbons or running Films Division stuff. It is the success of professionalism like that of India Today earlier, Outlook today and something else in future."

 His success, however, has not made him complacent. As a product of the market-wise Yankee university, Kalanidhi acknowledges competition and constantly gears up to retain his position at the top through a series of tie-ups, buyouts and launches. He first tied up with TV ASIA in Europe. When Zee bought it out but refused to use the Sun TV logo, Kalanidhi pulled out and entered into an exclusive arrangement with Singapore Cable Vision for a simultaneous 24-hour transmission of Sun TV. He followed this up by another exclusive arrangement with Maharajah Television of Sri Lanka. He launched Kannada channel Udaya TV last year and made his uncle Murasoli Selvam in charge of it. He then bought the majority stake in the Telugu channel Gemini TV floated by the grandsons of the legendary L.V. Prasad. Now he is planning to launch the Malayalam channel, Surya, as a gift to the viewership in Kerala on the occasion of India's golden jubilee of Independence. "I will enter the Hindi market sometime next year. It can be either a buyout or a strategic alliance or even a launch of our own outfit."

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 His greatest success yet lies in the way he resisted media giant Rupert Murdoch. Not only did he refuse to loosen his equity grip on the most successful channel south of Vindhyas, he also signed an agreement by which all Sun channels will be available on STAR's DTH platforms but will forbid it from going to any other Tamil or Kannada channel. On the analog service, he has effected an agreement for exchange of software and cross-channel promotions.

 So which is his favourite channel? Kalanidhi will surprise you with his answer. "My favourite channel is not Sun, but Discovery. I am trying to work out a deal with them to bring that wonderful television marvel to the Tamils. Sooner than you expect," he says. And you better watch out.

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