ITV

Tag: Raj TV

  • Raj TV to air Visswarupam from 5 June

    Raj TV to air Visswarupam from 5 June

    MUMBAI: Mediaone Global Entertainment Ltd., is launching the mega Tamil serial Visswarupam on Raj TV and also in Telugu on Vissa TV- a unit of Raj TV network.

    The series will commence telecast on 5 June on RAJ TV at 8 30 pm and air every Monday through Thrusday.

    The story and direction of this tele serial is by Bombay Chankya – a director from the K. Balachander school and stars leading Tamil artists like Bombay Gnanam, Deepa Narayanan, Poovizhangu Mohan, Kaushik, Siva Kavitha, Preethi, Sairam and others.

    Visswarupam is a period drama in a village hamlet dating back to thirties, that progresses to the current period. The serial is about what happens when a man begins to think he is ‘Lord Incarnate’ and seeks to meddle with the process of creation. It shows a Vedic Scholar with a scientific mind who begins to dream of cloning as early as 1930s and lives a hundred years spanning four generations to see his dream come true.

    Mediaone Global Entertainment Limited is among South India’s media companies headquartered in Chennai with its subsidiary in London. It has made a beginning in production of popular TV serials for leading TV Channels like ‘Swabhimana’ and ‘Geethanjali’ in ZEE Kannada which air primetime from Monday to Thursday at 915pm and 10 00 pm respectively.

  • Raj TV begins non-live telecast of news bulletins

    Raj TV begins non-live telecast of news bulletins

    MUMBAI: With election fever gripping Tamil Nadu media, the Chennai-headquartered Raj Television Network (RTN) has started telecasting news bulletins on its flagship channel Raj TV as non-live.

    Originally the channel is not permitted to telecast news and live programmes, as it is not uplinked from India.
    “Since the last two weeks, Raj TV has been telecasting one-and-a-half hours of news programming — exactly three half-an-hour news bulletins — as deferred live, apart from airing various election-oriented current affairs programmes” says one of the RTN promoters M Ravindran.

    Raj TV had lost the right to telecast news bulletins and live programmes when the information and broadcasting ministry terminated its teleport licence in November 2004. This was preceded by the ministry stopping broadcast of two new RTN channels Vissa TV and Raj Musix for uplinking without the necessary approval.
    Raj TV, along with another RTN channel Raj Digital Plus, were not allowed to uplink from the company’s own facility at Chennai as well as from any alternate commercial uplinking centre in India.

    RTN had no other choice but to move out of the country and uplink from Bangkok late last year. This arrangement, as already mentioned, prevents RTN from broadcasting live programmes and news. Due to this handicap, Raj TV has already lost out on two big events that were drawing in audiences: the Tsunami of 2004 and the controversy over Kanchi seer Jayendra Saraswathi. Now, it seems, the channel is in no mood let another bonanza — the upcoming Tamil Nadu assembly elections — go.

    “Since Raj TV is the only neutral channel in the politics-heavyTamil broadcast arena, our news and current affairs programmes used to rule the ratings before we lost the licence. We enjoy a good support from the advertisers and have decided to charge the best rates in the market. And, elections are something you can’t afford to skip as a broadcaster,” says Ravindran, adding that the channel has been charging advertisers Rs 9,000 per ten seconds for slots in these bulletins.

    The RTN promoters are confident that Raj TV will be able to telecast live news bulletins at the earliest. Having won an approval from the information and broadcasting (I&B) ministry in 2005 March to uplink its channels from a commercial teleport in India, RTN is presently waiting for the final green signal for the Wireless Protocol Clearance (WPC) from the telecom ministry, which is headed by Dayanidhi Maran, the elder brother of Sun TV supremo Kalanithi Maran.

  • Jaya TV obtains clearance for news channel

    Jaya TV obtains clearance for news channel

    MUMBAI: This is a piece of news that would bring some cheer in the Jayalalitha camp, after the assembly election debacle. Mavis Satcom Ltd, which operates Jaya TV, has been awarded the Wireless Protocol Clearance (WPC) to launch its news channel Jaya Plus.

    “We have now obtained all the necessary permission to launch Jaya Plus. We have the infrastructure in place and a recruitment drive will be launched soon. The channel will be launched at the earliest, after the Tamil Nadu assembly election results,” Jaya TV vice president of administration and legal S Ranganathan told indiantelevision.com.

    That puts an end to a clueless wait and a series of court battles for Mavis Satcom. The broadcaster had obtained the required permission from the information and broadcasting ministry way back in 2004, and since then it had been fighting for the WPC certificate.

    To speed up the proceedings, Mavis Satcom approached the Madras High Court early this year. In February, the Centre had assured the court that it would take a final decision on an application by VSNL to permit it to receive and uplink Jaya Plus on or before 9 March. The broadcaster didn’t press on the matter further as assembly elections were approaching.

    “At this crucial time, we can’t afford to indulge in court battles. We don’t want our attention to get diverted. We are making our best efforts possible covering the elections,” Jaya TV VP News Sunil K P had told indiantelevision.com at the time.

    Jaya Plus will primarily be a news and current affairs channel but have small doses of talk shows and quiz programmes. The channel will have seven to eight news bulletins. Reportedly, Jaya Plus will be politically aligned towards Jayalalitha.

    The entry of Jaya Plus as a news channel will end Sun TV’s solo run in the television news space in Tamil Nadu. Presently, Sun TV and its news channel sibling Sun News literally control the space since competitors Jaya TV, Raj TV and Star Vijay don’t have the necessary permission to telecast news and live programmes.

  • Sun, Raj TV reach out-of-court settlement on 66 movie telecast rights

    Sun, Raj TV reach out-of-court settlement on 66 movie telecast rights

    MUMBAI: Sun TV Ltd and Raj TV Network have reached an out-of-court settlement over disputes on 66 Tamil films valued at around Rs 19 million.

    According to the agreement, both the networks can screen these movies on their channels. The titles include blockbusters such as Dalapathy, Nayakan and Kaathal Kottai. “We recently arrived at an out-of-court settlement. Both the networks can show these movies,” a source close to Raj TV Network said.

    Claiming to have the perpetual rights to these 66 movies, Raj TV had moved the Chennai High Court against Sun TV.

    Sun TV has also made a similar statement in its initial public offering (IPO) document. “We are party to 15 civil suits with Raj TV, either filed by us or by Raj TV, in relation to alleged infringement of copyright in respect of 66 Tamil films. Raj TV and we have reached an agreement to settle all the aforesaid civil suits. Under the terms of the agreement, Raj TV and us have agreed to withdraw these cases upon each of them being listed,” the company said.

    Tamil and Malayalam combined, Sun owns a movie library of around 2,650 films. Raj TV owns about 2000 to 2500 Tamil movie titles.

  • Raj TV to celebrate 75 years of Tamil Cinema

    Raj TV to celebrate 75 years of Tamil Cinema

    MUMBAI: Tamil television channel Raj TV is celebrating 75 years of Tamil cinema with a slew of programmes from 5 April to 19 June, including screening of 75 best films in the language. The first Tamil talkie, Kalidas, was released on 14 March in 1931.

    “We hold copy rights to nearly 2,000 films. We propose to telecast these 75 films as part of the celebrations,” Raj TV directors M Ravindran and M Raghunathan said.

    The channel is also planning a glittering star-studded award function to culminate the celebration phase. The event will be held in Chennai on 24 June, where 75 veteran contributors to Tamil cinema would be honoured.

    ‘Chitra’ Lakshman, film producer-director, who is also associated with the celebrations, said each year on March 14 awards would be given away in the name of late Nataraja Mudaliar, the man who was responsible for the first silent Tamil movie Keeshavadam.

    According to Lakshman, the channel will also institute an award of Rs 1,00,000 each to a dozen low budget movies in Tamil as an annual feature.