"Kalaignar TV" launch on August 15: CM

Chennai, May 22 (UNI) Tamil Nadu Chief Minister and DMK President M Karunanidhi today announced the ''Kalaignar TV,'' the new channel in association with Raj TV, would be launched on August 15.

Answering a set of questions, the DMK supremo, who has turned to Raj TV after his fall out with the Sun TV owned by his grand nephew Kalanidhi Maran, said the new channel was being launched ''to cater to the needs and desires of the people.'' A formal announcement on the channel's launch would be made on June three conciding with his 84th birthday, he said.

Seeking to distance himself from the new channel, the DMK supremo said the party would have nothing to do with the channel.

''The DMK has something to do with Kalaignar, but not with the proposed channel,'' he told newspersons.

He said many professionals had come forward to help and work in the new channel which ''would not be run by the party, but by a team of professionals.'' Known as ''Kalaignar'' in political circles for many decades, the DMK chief said the channel was named so ''as desired by many.'' It would be the first of 11 channels the Raj TV has planned to start.

The application for starting the channel had already been submitted to the Union Information and Broadcasting Ministry.

UNI