MK Vs SUN TV – Who will have the last laugh?

DMK Supremo MK announced yesterday that his wife has sold her 20% share in Kalanidhi Maran’s Sun Network. Industry estimates put the worth of Sun Network at about Rs. 1000 Crores. If one goes by this estimate, the stake sale could be worth Rs. 200 Crores. SUN Network has a presence spanning all forms of media (Cable TV, Cable TV distribution, Print & FM Radio).

Out of the proceeds from the stake sale, MK’s wife seems to have passed on a portion to MK. The DMK chief has used this money to create a charitable trust with a corpus of Rs. 5 Crores.

There is lot of speculation about the reason behind the stake sale. With TN elections round the corner, this announcement should be a cause for cheer for the ruling camp. The Tamil Cable TV channels wield enormous influence over the TN electorate. Sun TV is leagues ahead of other channels in terms of TRP ratings and hence DMK can’t ignore Sun TV’s role in its earlier victories (Central and State elections).

MK is projecting Stalin as his successor and this might have not gone down well with some of the partymen / family members (??). Sun TV is known to black out a few people (MDMK’s Vaiko is one person whom I can recount) and they seem to have extended the blackout to MK Stalin as well. They have been using this time slot to promote the Union IT and Telecom Minister.

DMK does need a powerful media vehicle to face the TN electorate next year. In all likelihood, Sun TV will continue to promote DMK and its allies, but one is not sure whether DMK leadership can twist Sun TV’s arms to promote individual personalities. Sun TV also needs political backing as they need some amount of lobbying to conduct their activities. Although the relationship is strained, Sun TV will prefer to rally behind DMK as it has lots to gain if DMK wins the next elections. MK has stressed the word ‘amicable settlement’ in his press release so that it gives an indication to the public that all is well within the family.

Some media reactions

DNA

Karunanidhi did not reveal the total amount Ammal received for her 20% shares.The development also comes amidst speculation over the company going in for an IPO. A member of the Maran family said this ``arrangement’’ was on the cards for many months but refused to elaborate.

While sources in the family tell DNA that Karunanidhi has served an ultimatum on Sun Network MD and grand nephew Kalanidhi Maran to vacate the DMK headquarters premises (from where the channel is uplinking) within six months, there was at least one such innuendo in Karunanidhi’s two-page press release. “… (buildings at) 367-369 Anna Salai (which is also the address of the Sun TV office) have been under the management of the DMK Trust. I, M Karunanidhi am the founder of the Trust and have been functioning as the chairman of the Trust.”

But Maran family sources said Sun is unlikely to move out of its current office. Karunanidhi, who shared an emotional bonding with his nephew and former Union minister Murasoli Maran, is understandably not happy withMaran’s son Kalanidhi. Even as the 40-year-old US-educated Kalanidhi tried to expand his 13-channel media empire in a professional manner, Sun often had to dance to the DMK’s political tunes, risking its credibility and long-term gains.

“Both Karunanidhi and Kalanidhi have realised politics and media business cannot co-exist beyond a point,” says an insider. Once the division is complete, all eyes will be on Kalanidhi’s younger brother and Union IT minister Dayanidhi Maran, who was brought into politics and propelled to the cabinet berth by Karunanidhi.

New Indian Express

The move by Karunanidhi's family to divest from the Rs 600-crore Sun TV Group comes in the wake of speculation that the 82-year-old DMK patriarch is quite piqued with the channel's managers for virtually blacking out his son, MK Stalin, the DMK's deputy general secretary, who is being groomed to take over the DMK reins.While partymen hailed Kalaignar, as Karunanidhi is referred to in political circles, for his "extraordinary gesture'' in donating his money for a public cause, the move brought into open his displeasure with the Sun TV proprietor.In fact, Karunanidhi has made no secret about his differences with the channel's news coverage. There has been much heartburn within the party that the Sun TV Group headed by Kalanidhi Maran, brother of Dayandhi Maran, and son of Karunanidhi's favourite nephew, the late Murasoli Maran, was giving "poor coverage'' to the party and its heir apparent, Stalin.Recently the group bought over Tamil daily Dinakaran and even launched an eveninger Tamil Murasu. DMK followers have been complaining that Dinakaran, which in the past devoted much space for the party's views and ideologies, hardly gave space for it now.

Business Line

A few years ago, Sun Network had planned to come out with an IPO (to raise about Rs 1,200 crore, it was said at that time), but the company's Chairman and Managing Director, Mr Kalanithi Maran told Business Line in May that he had given up the idea. "Our internal reserves are good enough to take care of our future plans," he had said.

Television Point

According to party sources, M Karunanidhi has decided to distance himself from the channel as he is unhappy with the channel turning cold towards his son M.K. Stalin, his heir-apparent. The DMK chief had openly expressed his displeasure at the channel's coverage of party affairs and once even asked a Sun cameraman to leave his press conference. Some DMK men said M Karunanidhi was also unhappy over the Sun group buying the Tamil daily Dinakaran. They complained that the good rapport they had enjoyed with the pro-DMK paper had vanished after the Marans took charge of it. Party sources also said that M Karunanidhi did not quite relish Sun TV telecasting one serial after another promoting superstition and "negating the rationalist ideals of the Dravidian movement." When someone questioned how the DMK could accommodate Sun TV in the same premises as the party headquarters even though the channel was propagating superstition, M Karunanidhi went on the defensive, saying that Sun TV was a mere tenant at Anna Arivalayam, party headquarters.