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CPI-M, Church to launch TV channels

George Iype in Kochi

Marxists and Church leaders may be poles apart ideologically, but it turns out that they think alike when it comes to taking their message to the masses. After successful newspaper ventures to capture the attention of the literate Keralaite, both the Communist Party of India (Marxist) and the Syro Malabar Church are now set to launch their own television channels.

While Marxists claim the new TV channel would be used to put across their political views, Church leaders say their electronic venture - christened Jeevan TV- would be aimed at protecting morality in society.

Both, however, seem keenly aware that noble causes alone would not get them the viewership and have pledged huge sums to promote the channels. While the CPI-M boasts of a war chest of Rs 250 million, the Syro Malabar Church has earmarked Rs 100 million to push Jeevan TV.

CPI-M state secretary Pinarayi Vijayan said their channel would be run by professionals. "The new TV channel will not be our party's electronic organ. It will be a professional channel run by experts picked from the fields of media and cinema," he told rediff.com.

Senior CPI-M officials disclosed that a separate company on the lines of the A K Gopalan Memorial Trust or the EMS Academy would be registered. While the party will hold majority stake in the television venture, businessmen and CPI-M's affiliate organisations will pick up the remaining shares.

The party has approached Shashi Kumar, who founded Asianet, to head the television channel. Party veterans - M A Baby, K R Mohanan and K T Kunjumohammad - have been given the responsibility of launching the channel in three months.

Though the CPI-M TV channel is still at the conceptual stage, Church authorities are confident that Jeevan TV would begin its trial runs from January 26.

''By August 15 the channel will have enough software for 24-hour programming," Jeevan TV managing director Father Jose Kannambuzha said.

He said Jeevan TV would encompass the core ideals and values of life. "But at the same time it would be commercial venture,'' he added.

Equipped with their experience of running successful print ventures, marketing TV channels should not be a problem for both the CPI-M and the Church.

CPI-M's Malayalam daily Deshabhimani is a profit-making enterprise, while the Church has managed to keep its own daily Deepika in the black for many years.

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