Friday, September 12, 2008

TV5 crosses ETV 2

 
TV5 is second among Telugu News Channels now. Ofcourse, it is only half of the leader TV9. Though it is closely followed by ETV2, its contemporary NTV is far behind. The consistent performance of TV5 is observed during the last two months.
 
When Chiranjeevi announced his Prajarajyam at Tirupati, NTV  got his exclusive interview and got good ratings also. It was the leader on that day. TV5 was very unhappy with this and was angry with Chiranjeevi. Later when Katti Padmarao's issue came up, TV5 has decided to dig TRPs out of it and finally succeeded. This was a signal to the PrajaRajyam camp that if exclusives are given, others will not spare them.
 
The war is likely to be fierce hereafter. Seems ETV2 has backed out and slowly moving out of the race. In the Entertainment channels also, ETV is in its 5th place in the latest TAM reports after Gemini, Teja, Maa and Zee Telugu.

 

Thursday, September 11, 2008

Status of New News Channels

The new News Channels are gearing for early launch but there are certain unavoidable hurdles. We have the details of the status of various channels gathered by our team :
 
HMTV : Described as HAMSA TV with its new logo, the channel from Hyderabad Mediahouse has unofficially announced its launch date as October 9th, Vijayadashami but the current pace of work shows that it may officially be aired only in November. The editorial staff will be moving to the new premises after 25th of this month. 80 percent of the Recruitments are over and the team is confident of bringing out a good channel with their oft repeated slogan ' truth and nothing but truth'.
 
SAKSHI TV : Most of the recruitment part is over but the problem of space is yet to be resolved. Staff were paid one month salary even before they attended office and this month, they have been asked to attend in shifts, 3 hours a day. There is no chance for the channel's launch before November.
 
iNEWS : This is yet another channel which has not yet shifted to new premises. Insiders say that the shifting will be over by 20 th of this month.However, launch of the channel will only be in November. Only 60 percent of the staff have been recruited. The slow pace is being attributed to the completion of building.
 
ZEE 24 GANTALU : Since this is only an extension of existing News Bulletins in its mother channel, 30 percent of the staff are already working. Have recruited another 20 percent recently but stopped later. Delay in finishing the building work is said to be the reason. Likely to be aired in November if everything goes well.

ASIANET NEWS : This team was earlier identified as working for Sitara and there was some confusion whether it will be part of Star or not. Now that it is clear, the team is getting ready for its 24 Hour News Channel. With all the infrastructure already in place, the channel is likely to be on air in November.
 
STUDIO N : With a license on hand, this channel is unable to finalise whether to bring an English News Channel or to wait for a Telugu News Channel license and launch both at a time. Again there is the problem of its premises being ready. Currently in Jubilee Hills, the team is likely to shift to its new premises in Madhapur by the end of this month.Launch may be in January 2009.