We watch news every day, but the stories of who owns the media organisations are as interesting as the news these channels report. According to data released by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, there are 394 news and current affairs channels in India, out of a total of 669 television channels that have been given permission to function by the government.
Here’s a short guide to who owns the news channels in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.
Telugu channels have in the last few months clearly divided themselves into Telangana-loyal and Andhra-loyal categories. Andhra and Telangana put together have almost 35 24-hour news channels, at least 15 of them run by cable networks in districts.
Andhra has a mix of channels — some owned by politicians, others by businessmen. Sleaze forms a major portion of news on these channels.
TV9 Telugu is owned by Associated Broadcasting Company Limited (ABCL) (same as TV 9 Kannada). Established in 2003, ABCL is one of the leading regional channel broadcasters in India. The company has two news based channels in Kannada and Telugu languages under the brand, TV9. Ravi Prakash is the CEO.
Some months ago the channel was banned by Telangana CM K Chandrasekhar Rao for being 'anti-Telangana'. A month ago, TV9 rebranded its second news channel Tv One as Jai Telangana. This news channel caters to Telangana, while TV9 Telugu remains an AP channel.
Sakshi TV was launched in March 2009 and is owned by Indira Television Ltd and is running under the chairmanship of YS Bharati, wife of Jagan Mohan Reddy. Jagan is a member of the Legislative Assembly from Pulivendula constituency and is the son of the former Chief Minister of the erstwhile Andhra Pradesh, YS Rajasekhara Reddy.
The channel is actively used by Jagan for political propaganda, especially against his political rivals. When he was arrested, the channel ran consistent campaigns claiming Jagan was innocent.
T News channel was launched in April 2011 and belongs to Telangana Broadcasting Private Limited. The channel functions like the official mouthpiece of the TRS and has been branded the pulse of Telangana.
ABN Andhra Jyothi is a channel owned by Vemuri Radhakrishna, who is known to be close to Andhra Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu. Radhakrishna also owns the Andhra Jyothi newspaper, and rivals like Jagan and KCR have alleged that Naidu had benami investments in Andhra Jyothi.
In 2012, it was ABN that first played out sex tapes of the then Andhra Pradesh Governor ND Tiwari. This channel was also banned in Telangana, along with TV9.
When Naidu became CM of Andhra Pradesh, ABN was given the contract of covering and transmitting live signals of all his events.
Raj News is owned by Raj Television Network, a satellite TV network established in June 1994. Its Managing Director M Raajhendran is a businessman who joined the DMK in June 2007 and owns 11.3% of the network. The network owns a variety of television channels in multiple languages covering south Indian states.
HMTV is a news channel owned by the Telangana-based Hyderabad Media House Ltd. K Vaman Rao, founder and chairman of the Kapil Group, is the chairman of the Hyderabad Media House group. Rao is a qualified Chartered Accountant and runs successful chit funds.
Chief editor and managing director of the channel is Y Rajashekar, a senior journalist who has worked with many organisations in the past. The group also runs the Hans India newspaper and portal.
V6 News, started in March 2012, is owned by VIL Media Pvt Ltd, a media company run by G Vivek, former Congress MP, and his brother G Vinod, former AP Labour Minister. The pro-Congress channel was named V6 as they are six siblings, including Vinod and Vivek. The channel’s chief editor and CEO is Ankam Ravi, a seasoned journalist.
Gemini News is a new channel run by the Sun Network (Sun Group is an Indian conglomerate based in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. The group was founded by Kalanithi Maran and his family members, including his wife Kaveri Maran).
NTV or New Generation TV is owned by Rachana Television Private Limited (RTPL). Businessman Narendra Chowdhury is the chairman and managing director of RTPL and the channel. Chowdhury, who is the chairman of Jubilee Housing Board, also owns women’s channel Vanitha TV, devotional channel Bhakti TV, and recently acquired INEWS (Telugu news channel).
TV5, a news channel from Shreya Broadcasting Pvt Ltd, is an Andhra based channel owned by businessman BR Naidu. Naidu, who used to run a travel agency, struck it rich with a hair product called Nuzen hair oil. Much of the profits from the hair oil business and subsequent businesses were channeled into the news channel and other media ventures.
10 TV is a co-operative news channel run by CPI(M) members and supporters. The channel is owned by a Communist loyalist named Veer Bhadra. MLC Prof K Nageswar is the chairman of the channel. Like a co-operative, the channel operates on money collected from CPI(M) members across the state.
99% TV is a news channel run by women cadres of the CPI. It started out as a venture that would be run only by women, but did induct men finally. The channel’s slogan says: “99% TV news is biased. Biased not towards a political group, but biased in favour of the people.”
Studio N is a 24-hour Telugu news channel aired in Andhra Pradesh started by businessman Narne Srinivasa Rao. His daughter later married popular actor and relative of Chandrababu Naidu, Junior NTR. The entire family was managing the channel, which in March 2014 was sold to an entreprenuer named Srivatsava Sunkara.
CVR News, owned by Image Broadcasting Private Limited, is named after the group’s chairman and businessman CV Rao.
ETV News Telugu a news channel run by Eenadu Television Pvt Ltd. The network has three news channels — ETV Telugu, ETV Andhra Pradesh & ETV Telangana. Though Network 18 took over most of ETV media ventures across the country, only the AP and Telangana ones remain with the parent company.