Sun TV

Sun TV is a regional Tamil language Indian cable television station. It is the premier flagship channel of the Chennai-based Rs 600-crore Sun Network. Sun TV is the most viewed channel in Tamil Nadu. It was the first fully privately owned Tamil channel in India when it emerged in 1992. Its serials and soaps have generated the maximum TRP rating for viewership all over India, making it the most popular channel in India. Coupled with the DMK-backed Karunanidhi family, it was the largest political-media family in India till the split in November 2005.

Sun TV has the largest collection of movie titles in its library - about 2,400 films, though according to sources, the real number is pegged at over 6,000 titles.

Its service is broadcast through cable or satellite networks throughout India. Sun TV is also available to viewers in the US, Dubai, Europe, Australia, South Africa, Singapore and the Asia Pacific region.

History and Ownership

Its ownership lies in the hands of the Maran family who are related to Karunanidhi, former 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 the early 1990s.

Monday 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 [3]. 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 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.