Sun TV Network

Infobox Company
company_name = Sun TV Network
company_
company_type = Private
foundation = 1992
location = Chennai, Tamil Nadu, flag|India
slogan =
key_people =
area_served =
industry = DTH Pay TV
products = Direct broadcast satellite
revenue =
operating_income =
net_income =
num_employees =
parent =
subsid =
homepage = [http://www.sunnetwork.in/ www.sunnetwork.in]
footnotes =

Sun TV Network is a Rs 16000-crore (4 Billion $) Indian cable television network based in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India. Established in 1993, it offers a plethora of television channels in 4 languages covering the whole of southern India. It was the first fully privately owned Tamil channel in India when it emerged in 1993. Its serials and soaps have generated the maximum TRP for viewership all over India, making it the most popular network of channels in India. Till 2007 coupled with the DMK-backed Karunanidhi family, it was the largest political-media family in India till the split in November 2005.

All its channels occupy the top spots in their respective languages. Sun TV, in Tamil is the Network's flagship and most popular channel. Being the premier channel, "Sun TV" is often used to refer to the Sun TV Network in general.

Kalanithi Maran is the Chairman and Managing Director of media giant Sun Network and has been given [http://www.sunnetwork.in/aboutus/default.htm various awards] including the CNBC "Business Excellence Award" in 2005.

Sun Network also offers FM Radio Stations ( 93.5 FM ) It has 45 FM Radio Stations and has recently forayed into the print business. In addition, it has also recently launched a DTH satellite television service entitled Sun Direct.

Recently Sun Network introduced its cinema entertainment label Sun Pictures.

Channels

Sun Network offers 20 television channels in four languages, generally targeting southern Indian viewers. Various networks are also available abroad for international viewers. The channel offerings are as follows: [http://www.SunNetwork.in/]

Although its main presence is in Tamil, it has channels in other languages also.

UN DIRECT - DTH Service

* SUN DIRECT - (Sun Direct DTH Service) http://www.SunDirect.in/
Satellite Insat 4B

The "SUN Direct", DTH service from the South Indian Media Giant, SUN Network, started on 7th December 2007. The Initial rollout was only in its home land "Tamil Nadu", where they face all hurdles.After a big struggle, they were able to launch the product in all over south and has more 1.3 million subscribers in south India making it the largest and most popular DTH service provider in south India. Kicking off its drive to achieve a pan-India presence, Sun Direct TV Pvt Ltd launched its services in Gujarat, Jammu & Kashmir, Haryana, Punjab, and Himachal Pradesh. Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar and other states of Hindi speaking belt would be targetted in the other phases of expansion.

* Sun Direct - India's youngest and most exciting state of the art DTH Company. It is the fastest growing DTH company in India. It predicts to cross 2 million subscribers within this year end.

Sun Direct uses the latest MPEG-4 based technology to increase broadcast capacity. Sun Direct confirms to provide next-generation services in fast-growing and emerging markets quickly and efficiently. Sun Direct will be supported by Irdeto's conditional access solution to manage content and revenues in the satellite broadcasting venture.

Sun Direct selected Oracle based on its convergent multi-service capabilities and proven real-time scalability allowing it to consolidate billing operations, enable powerful new service offerings and improve visibility into customer information across services.

Sun Direct is also ready to offer High Definition Televison (HDTV) and it is currently aggregating HDTV content. The DHT service provider hopes to come out with HDTV over next few months.

Print Media

Tamil NewsPapers

* Dinakaran - (Daily Morning Newspaper) - http://www.dinakaran.co.in/
* Tamil Murasu - (Daily Evening Newspaper) - http://www.dinakaran.co.in/

Weekly Tamil Magazine

* Kungumum
* Mutharam
* Vannathirai
* Kumguma Chimizh

Location and Contact Address

SunTV Network Corporate Office

4, Norton Road,

Mandaveli, Chennai-28.

Tamil Nadu, India.

Phone No: 044-24648181

Fax: [phone]

History and Ownership

Its ownership lies in the hands of Kalanidhi Maran who is related to Karunanidhi, Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu and head of Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK). In fact the logo of Sun TV was inspired by the "Rising Sun" which is the party symbol of DMK. The headquarters too is in the premises of "Anna Arivalayam" the HQ of DMK in Chennai.

It was the first fully privately owned Tamil channel in India when it emerged in 1993.

On November 7, 2005, DMK president M Karunanidhi announced that his wife Dayalu Ammal has relinquished her 20% shares in Sun Network and its Tamil publications [http://dnaindia.com/report.asp?NewsID=8839] . This arrangement was on the cards for many months. The move by Karunanidhi’s family to divest from the Rs 600-crore Sun TV Group comes in the wake of speculation that the 85-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.

ee also

* Sun TV

External links

* [http://www.sundirect.in Sun Direct Website]
* [http://www.sfm935.in S FM Website]
* [http://www.indianexpress.com/full_story.php?content_id=81585 Indian Express Article]
* [http://dnaindia.com/report.asp?NewsID=8839 Daily News and Analysis Article]
* [http://www.televisionpoint.com/news/newsfullstory.php?id=1131413216 Television Point Article]

Other links

* [http://www.sundth.blogspot.com/ Sun Direct DTH blog]
* [http://www.sun-direct.blogspot.com/ Sun Direct DTH News Blog]
* [http://www.satcodx3.com/0936/eng/ Channels on INSAT 4B (Sun Direct & DD Direct +)]
* [http://www.lyngsat.com/packages/sundirect.html Sun Direct Channel Via Lyngsat]
* [http://www.lyngsat.com/packages/sundirect_sid.html Sun Direct Via Lyngsat Sorted by SID]