Running media houses has become extreme difficult these days, especially after the advent of digital media.
Media is no more a profitable venture, as advertisers are looking towards cheaper publicity platforms like online and direct marketing.
While the print media is undergoing the biggest crisis with the cost of newsprint shooting up abnormally both in domestic and foreign markets, the condition of electronic media is also far from satisfactory.
Even the established channels like ETV, NDTV and Times Now have started sacking staff, cutting down operational expenditure and depending on government advertisements, rather than commercial advertisements.
In Telugu media field, too, several channels are on the way out – either being closed or being sold out to bigger investors or political parties.
We have recently heard about loss-making Leftist channel 10TV being taken over by industrialist Nimmagadda Prasad to help Jana Sena Party chief Pawan Kalyan.
A couple of days ago, there was yet another bad news for media field in Telugu. News channel Studio N, which began with a bang a few years ago, was locked out, throwing the fate of hundreds of its employees to winds.
In fact, the channel has not been paying salaries to its staff for the last six months, though they were regularly and sincerely working all through the day like in any other channel.
Having lost their patience, the channel reporters and other staff have been agitating for their salaries in front of the Studio N office, while it continued to run with skeletal staff.
Having thrown up its hands, the management completely shut it down a couple of days ago.
Studio-N channel was originally started in 2011 by prominent real estate owner Narne Srinivasa Rao, father in law of popular film star Junior NTR (his wife Lakshmi Pranathi is Narne Srinivasa Rao’s daughter).
And Srinivasa Rao’s wife Naga Mallika happens to be the niece of Telugu Desam Party president and chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu.
Initially, Junior NTR was showing interest in Studio N, but subsequently when he fell apart from Naidu, he backed out.
And Naidu’s son Lokesh gained a major share in the channel and converted it into a completely pro-TDP channel.
Subsequently, when it turned out be a non-profitable venture, he sold it out to Uday Sinhwala, Badrinarayan Chowdhary and others, who are apparently belonging to Kalki religious sect.
The latest promoters have completely failed to run the channel and it started gradually running into deep financial crisis. Finally, it had to down its shutters, sources said.
