Emergence of Kannada News Channels

Emergence of kannada news channels- Though India emerged as a sovereign, democratic republic in 1950. The electronic media gained freedom from total government control only in 1997, when prasar bharati-the broad casting corporation of India was established as a public service broadcaster. The proliferation of private TV news channels and the use of satellites to reach audience have made a big difference in the way TV news is cast and presented. It became as a part of India’s media growth. Karnataka too contributed a small share in India’s media growth. In Karnataka ther are 7 regional news channels. It all started because of audience interest and technology. In 1977 doordarshan started primary service in Gulbarga, not with the impressive growth and reach on November 1st 1983 doordarshan opened its office in Bangalore. In 1988 doordarshan extended its news service up to 15min. later on 1st January 2000, doordarshan Bangalore Kendra was responsible for news and news graphic’s growth in kannada and created new pathway for news channels and they indeed dependent totally on foreign broadcast organization to establish in India, during this critical period, Tamil nadu based sun network came forward and opened a satellite channel in Karnataka. Sun network was the company formed under sumangali publication private limited which is owned by Dr.kalaingar M.karunanidi. on may 2nd 1994 sun network launched kannada regional channel in karnataka under the name udaya TV. On june 30th,2000 virappan, a sandalwood smuggler kidnapped kannada movie star Dr.Rajkumar and it created quite a stir. In order to encash such an opportunity udaya decided to launch its new channel, as a result on 31st June 2000, udaya vartegalu started. It didn’t perform well, but it showed a space and opportunity for news in Karnataka market. Currently seven news channels in Karnataka, all channels performing better and also achieving good rating. Seven channels