It’s official now. The Kalaignar TV being launched by Raj TV, is backed by the ruling DMK in Tamil Nadu. Chief Minister M Karunanidhi told reporters here on Tuesday that the party would not manage the channel. It would be run by a team of professionals. He said the new channel would go on air on August 15 and the official announcement would be made on June 3, his birthday.
Raj TV, which is beaming its programmes from Thailand, will use two unused sets of transponders in Thaicom to host the new channel, it is reported. Mr Karunanidhi as well as Raj TV’s chief Rajhendran are silent on whether the DMK will have a stake in the new venture. But it is unlikely as Raj is now a public limited company and induction of anyone on the board of directors will need shareholders approval. Also, SEBI will have to be informed in case of large-scale share transfer. 
Mr Karunanidhi denied reports that Sun TV had been asked to move out of Anna Arivalayam, the DMK headquarters in the heart of the city.
The move to use Raj TV’s new channel as a propaganda arm of the DMK is a fallout of the feud between the Karunanidhi family and the Maran brothers which started long before the latest survey in the Dinakaran.
Just before Sun TV went public last year, Mr Kalanidhi Maran bought out the shares of Mr Karunanidhi and his wife Dayalu Ammal. The red herring prospectus issued at the time of the public issue said money was being raised for a new facility in MRC Nagar in Chennai to which Sun TV plans to move. The new facility is almost ready.
In other words, Mr Kalanidhi Maran wanted to distance the Sun TV from the DMK and Karunanidhi family and run it on professional lines. This was one of the reasons for the estrangement between the Maran brothers and Mr Karunanidhi. Matters came to a head over the survey conducted by Dinakaran on the DMK leader’s political heir and it cost Mr Dayanidhi Maran his job as Union Minister.
Raj TV suffered a setback during Mr Maran’s tenure as a minister at the Centre with its teleport licence cancelled, forcing it to beam its programmes from Thailand. With DMK going the Raj way, the estrangement between the Karunanidhi clan and the Maran brothers is complete.