MUMBAI: The Sun Network has hit back at Raj TV's claims of having cornered the number two position in Tamil Nadu.
Reacting to a publicised ad pitch made by Raj TV, citing the airing of blockbusters on Friday nights as the reason why ratings for the channel have shot up, KTV, the younger sibiling of Sun TV has retaliated, terming the Raj TV exercise a 'case of one programme syndrome'. Raj Television Network head - national sales, B Shankar had said last week that the film Kalatpaadai aired on its "Friday Blockbuster" slot (named as Velli Minnalgal) on the night of 4 April 2003 (8:01 pm) had placed the channel at No. 2 in Chennai and Tamil Nadu in the cable and satellite (C&S) homes. "It got a TVR of 6.88 in the C&S 4 years plus in Chennai," Shankar had claimed.
KTV's marketing head Saravanan however has hit back, saying, "A channel standing can be determined only by its overall ratings and the average share it has during the prime and the non-prime hours on all days of the week. A mere one programme at any of the slots suitable to a channel can only reflect one good programme of that channel. Just because that one particular programme happens to edge past the programme in the same time slots in other channels do not mean you have edged past a channel."
"A movie viewership is purely title driven and it is very difficult for a channel like Raj TV with very limited number of good titles to slot good movies on a continuous basis. In such a scenario, whatever you gain from one title will not be the same with other titles," he says.
According to Saravanan, TAM ratings for the week 6 April to 12 April show that-
* Under the three segments Chennai, TN 1 lakh to 10 lakh towns and TN 10 lakh + towns which cover the entire Tamil Nadu viewership (C&S) , KTV has an audience share of 11 per cent in Chennai,10 per cent in TN 1 to 10 Lakhs and 14 per cent in TN 10 L + where as Raj TV scores 8 per cent, 6 per cent and 7 per cent. The category is C& S 4+ years, which determines the overall viewership of a channel and reflect the channel standing.
