Sun TV vs Kalaingar TV

The channel war between Sun TV and Kalaignar TV took a heated turn on Sunday when both channels engaged in an all out competition to garner the maximum number of viewers. Sun TV, on one hand telecasted an hour long programme at 11 am, pertaining to the recently held Tamil Nadu State Film Awards, which saw the participation of CM Karunanidhi, Rajnikanth, Kamal Haasan etc., Interestingly, the rights to telecast the programme were vested with Kalaignar TV, which in retaliation telecasted the Vijay-starrer Ghilli at 11 am, for which the rights are said to be with Sun TV.

It all began when the news announcing the airing of the State awards was flashed across Sun TV from 9 am onwards on Sunday. It surprised most viewers who had not seen any ads pertaining to it and were unaware of it being on the program schedule. It came as a rude shock for Kalaignar TV, because they had slotted the same programme albeit for a four-hour duration on Diwali. As an immediate damage control measure, Kalaignar TV unexpectedly telecast Ghilli at 11 am despite having other programmes scheduled for that slot. The channel did this after being informed by their sources of Sun TV's plans to screen Ghilli on Diwali. But, when Sun TV concluded their programme after an hour, Kalaignar TV abruptly put an end to the telecast of Ghilli and continued with their programmes as per schedule. Sources close to A. M. Ratnam, who produced Ghilli confirmed that only Sun TV held the telecast rights to the film. They also revealed that the problem started a week back when Kalaignar TV found that Sun TV intended to telecast Kamal's Vettayadu Vilayadu on Diwali.