Blootics

This is yet another blow to Sun TV group. Right from the date of clash between the Marans and Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi’s family, more and more problems have started coming to Sun TV and the latest is surly to affect Sun TV’s TopLine this year. After slugging it out in over personal and political issues, Karunanidhi’s elder son M.K. Azhagiri has taken the fight to the last mile, the very delicious cable distribution arena, which the Sun TV Group was dominating over through its Sumangali Cable Vision (SCV).

It is said that, Azhagiri’s Royal Cable Vision (RCV), has formed a pact with Cable Operators in Madurai, by which most of the them are going to move out of SCV and join RCV. Also, RCV has briefed out plans to these cable operators for profit sharing in the ratio of 51:49 or 60:40. Today, blootics.com noticed that in RCV has announced monthly cable tariff cuts for those who are willing to move out of SCV.

Azhagiri’s Royal Cable Vision (RCV) was launched on Monday at a low-key function in Madurai, where the media was kept out. But the effect was felt soon after: soon after the launch, hundreds of households reported a blackout of Sun Group’s channels, which include 20 channels in four regional languages. The Sun Group, with its popular channels—Sun TV, Sun News, and movie and music channels—ruled over the TV ratings, while its distribution network, SCV, has been the unquestionable leader, though not always through fair means. Now, the group is feeling the pinch of the spat in the first family that left the Maran brothers, Kalanidhi and Dayanidhi, in the opposite camp of Azhagiri.

The poaching by Royal Cable Vision (RCV) into Sumangali Cable Vision (SCV) territory increased to a staggering 70 per cent in Madurai city forcing more number of viewers to miss Sun TV’s bouquet of channels. With SCV refusing to give its Sun network signals to RCV, the cable war is only building up by the day. ”We have not compelled anyone to shift from SCV to RCV. The cable operators, who were suffering at the hands of the SCV until now, have grabbed the opportunity after the launch of RCV. Cut up by SCV’s monopoly, the cable operators have volunteered to come under the RCV fold,” RCV officials said.

With 30 head-end operators and 450 link operators, the city has two lakh cable connections. After chief minister M. Karunanidhi’s son Azhagiri launched RCV in the city on Monday, the monopoly of Maran-owned SCV has suffered a severe setback within 74 hours. Despite SCV refusing to relay its pay channels through RCV, the cable operators are increasingly moving towards the latter unmindful of the viewers who have been denied the opportunity to watch their favourite programmes on Sun.

But the cable operators seem to be happy now. ”They (SCV) have been dictating terms thus far. And we have all along obliged them. Now, it is a turnaround situation where we have been invited by RCV management to share even its profits,” A. M. Kannan, General secretary, Madurai Cable TV Operators Association, said. Azhagiri has asked the operators to collect charges ranging from Rs 100 to Rs 130 for a cable connection depending upon the locality. An SCV official said that RCV’s blackout of Sun TV channels has only resulted in a huge demand for Sun Direct. “We are moving additional equipment and technicians to Madurai to meet the demand, which only proves that people want to watch Sun TV at any cost,” he said.