This Vijayadashami, which falls on October 6, one more regional channel will go on air.
The channel called Krishna TV, will have Dr Subramaniam Swamy, Harvard professor and former Union Minister, as its Chairman. His Chanakya Neeti Communications (P) Ltd has become a Joint Venture Partner with Krishnaswamy Associates Media Renaissance.
Arasu Cable Corporation will offer the channel to subscribers of their 37,000 cable operators.
Krishna TV, which claims to 7am to 9.30am, 11am to 1.30pm, 3pm to 5.30pm and 7.30 pm to 10 pm.
With content designed in Tamil and English languages, the channel will air programmes which will focus on healthy entertainment, besides dramatised versions of the lives of saints. It will also air programmes� on Vedas, Upanishads, and Tamil Bhakthi literature. Swami Dayananda Saraswati will deliver a weekly discourse on the channel as will Shri Mumtaz Ali, popularly known as Shri ‘M’, a great scholar in the Upanishads. Monks of the Ramakrishna Math, who are actively involved in the channel, are to conduct discourses and classes. A 52-episode Tamil TV serial on the life and teachings of Swami Vivekananda will be among the highlights of the channel in its inaugural year.
Kathakalakshebams by eminent artistes, besides� classical music and dance concerts by leading performers get pride of place. While it will be a predominantly Tamil channel, there will be some English programmes.
Speaking at the launch of the channel, Dr Subramanian Swamy said, “We may call ourselves Tamilians first, or Dravidians, but the fact is that we are all Indians. What is our religion? What are we going to preach here? There is more to learn from our own. People gather in several numbers at the Kumbh Mela and at so many religious affairs. What matters ultimately is to be united at heart, which is actually missing,” he said as he also thanked the current chief minister of the state, J Jayalalitha for making the channel happen.
“This channel was an idea� and a dream of mine for six years. For some reason or the other, it was not materialising. Today, it is out eventually,” he added. Stressing on the fact that the channel was neither commercial nor only for entertainment, co-chairman of the channel Dr Krishnaswamy said,“We want the breeze from all lands to flow into ours without uprooting ourselves. A true Hindu accepts and respects all other religions and faiths.”