Studio-N Channel in dilemma

Hyderabad, July 10: Especially after the arrival of digital media, it has extremely become difficult for running media houses.

As advertisers are looking around affordable publicity platforms like online and direct marketing which seems Media is no more a profitable campaign.

While the print media is withstanding the biggest crunch with the cost of newsprint shooting up non-typical both in domestic and foreign markets, the condition of electronic media is also far from adequate.

Even the fixed channels like ETV, NDTV and Times Now have started dismissing staff, cutting down running investment and confide on government advertisements, rather than profit-making advertisements.

Eventually, in Telugu media field, several channels are on the way out – either being closed (or) being sold out to bigger investors (or) political parties.

We have in recent times heard about ruinous agitator channel 10TV being taken over by industrialist Nimmagadda Prasad to help Jana Sena Party chief Pawan Kalyan.

There was yet another bad news for media field a couple of days ago in Telugu. News channel 'Studio N', which established with a smack a few years ago, was locked out, throwing the fate of hundreds of its employees to blast.

Indeed, the channel has not been paying salaries to its staff for the last 6 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 disturbing for their salaries in front of the Studio N office, while it continued to run with withered 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).

However, Srinivasa Rao's wife Naga Mallika happens to be the niece of Telugu Desam Party president and chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu.

Originally, Junior NTR was showing interest in 'Studio N', but finally when he fell apart from Naidu, he aided out. And Naidu's son Nara Lokesh attained a dominant share in the channel and converted it into a completely pro-TDP channel.

Later, when it turned out be a non-profitable one, he sold it out to Uday Sinhwala, Badrinarayan Chowdhary and others, who probably belongs to Kalki religious sect.

Reportedly, the latest developers have completely failed to run the channel and it started deliberately running into deep financial crunch. Finally, it had to close its doors, sources said.