Kalanidhi Maran

Kalanidhi Maran, born 1965, is the Chairman and Managing Director of Sun Network which owns television channels, FM radio stations, and newspapers in South India. He got into the business at the age of 27, when satellite broadcasting took off in the early 1990s [ [http://ia.rediff.com/money/2006/apr/28spec.htm Rediff India Abroad, April 28, 2006 - Kalanidhi Maran: A 'Sunshine' story, by Sanjiv Shankaran and S. Bridget Leena in New Delhi] ] and started his career with the freelance newsmagazine Poomalai in Tamil. He is the son of the Late leader Murasoli Maran and the grandnephew of DMK president M Karunanidhi, and the brother of Dayanidhi Maran, India's ex-Minister for Communications and Information Technology.

He was a 1999 recipient of the "International Young Business Achiever" award from the Worldcom group, New York. Kalanidhi Maran was also among the few representatives at a roundtable with visiting U.S. President Bill Clinton. [ [http://www.chennaibest.com/discoverchennai/personalities/media3.asp Chennai Best - Media Personalities - Kalanidhi Maran] ] He was India's 20th richest person ranked by Forbes. [ [http://www.forbes.com/lists/2006/77/biz_06india_Kalanithi-Maran_DWSG.html India's 40 Richest by Forbes - #20 Kalanithi Maran] ]

Sun TV was listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange on April 24, 2006, with 10% of the shares widely held and 90% still owned by Maran. [ [http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117940460.html?categoryid=14&cs=1 Variety.com, Monday, April 24, 2006, 6:36pm PT - Sun TV shines on Exchange] ]

Maran entered the prestigious "Forbes" list of billionaires in 2007. He is now ranked 349th in the world.

Early life

*Graduate of Loyola College, Chennai.
*Received MBA from the University of Scranton.
*He was Working for "Kunkumam" in the late 1980s.
*Started own monthly video newsmagazine, "Poomaalai", in 1990.
*Founded SunTV on April 14, 1993.

TV channels

Tamil
*Sun TV
*KTV
*Sun Music
*Sun News
*Chutti TVMalayalam
*SuryaTV
*KiranTVTelugu
*GeminiTV
*TejaTV
*AdithyaTV
*Teja News
*Gemini News
*Gemini Music
*Gemini Cable VisionKannada
*UdayaTV
*UsheTV
*Udaya2
*Udaya Movies
*Udaya Varthegalu
*Udaya News

] =FM stations =

[http://www.sfm935.in/ SFM]

Tamil
*Suryan FM - Chennai - 93.5 MHz
*Suryan FM - Coimbatore - 93.5 MHz
*Suryan FM - Tirunelveli - 93.5 MHz
*Suryan FM - Madurai - 93.5 MHz
*Suryan FM - Pondicherry - 93.5 MHzTelugu
*Visakha FM - Vishakapatinam - 105.6 MHz
*SFM Hyderabad - 93.5 MHz
*SFM Tirupathi - 93.5 MHzKannada
*SFM Bangalore - 93.5 MHzHindi
*SFM Bhubaneshwar - 93.5 MHz
*SFM Jaipur - 93.5 MHz
*SFM Indore - 93.5 MHZShareholder of
*Red FM (India)

Print Media

Tamil
*Dinakaran - (morning daily)
*Tamil Murasu - (evening daily)
*Kungumam
*Mutharam
*Vannathirai
*Kunguma Chimizh

External links

* [http://www.dinakaran.com/md/ Homepage of Mr. Kalanidhi Maran] "retrieved" on 11 Feb 2007.
* [http://www.sun.in Homepage of Sun Network] "retrieved" on 11 Feb 2007.

References