Kalanidhi Maran promoted Sun TV network has been denied security clearance by the Ministry of Home Affairs on the grounds that it may have adverse impact on economic of the country.
This means that Sun TV network has to take down all of its 33 channels and which together reach to more than 95 million households in India. The Network had applied to the Information and Broadcasting Ministry for renewing its broadcasting licence for 10 years. The process required security clearance from the Home Ministry.
Of the 33 channels that the network runs are four kids’ channels – Chutti TV (Tamil), Kochu TV (Malayalam), Chintu TV (Kannada) and Kushi TV (Telugu) – which cater to the audience in the four states of Southern India, namely Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh (Seemandhra & Telangana) and also the only one to do so.
“Charges of systemic corruption, money laundering, allegations of operating an illegal telephone exchange and involvement of the company’s promoters in Aircel-Maxis deal are the reasons that we declined security clearance to the Sun TV network. Since the same grounds were cited while denying clearance to FM channels owned by the group, it applied to the network as well,” said the official.
If this black-out does come about the stranglehold that Sun Network enjoys in the region will become vulnerable for other players in the kids’ entertainment space to capitalise on. That will be something that will be a great opportunity for content aggregators and content creators alike.