Sun shows its daily design

Sun Network broke almost a year-long silence on entering the daily newspaper segment by acquiring 100 per cent of the Dinakaran group of Tamil publications.

Dinakaran group of publications has under its fold its flagship brand Dinakaran, a Tamil daily, Malai Murasu, an evening Tamil daily and three Tamil weeklies.

Kalanithi Maran, chairman and managing director, Sun Network, told Business Standard,"The deal has been signed and Sun Network will officially takeover the management of the group on Monday."

When asked about the deal size of the take over of the Dinakaran group, Maran flatly refused to comment on it. Ramesh, vice president-administration, Sun Network will be the chief operating officer of Dinakaran.

Maran pointed out that his aim is to make Dinakaran the number one Tamil daily in the state.

However, declined to comment whether there will be a price cut. Industry sources expected that Sun Network would slash the prices of Dinakaran to Re1 from its present price of Rs 3 to gain market share.

Eight months ago, Sun Network aggressively marketed its weekly Kungumum by giving freebies and becoming the number 1 weekly in Tamil Nadu.

"We plan to re-launch Dinakaran (Daily Sun) in the next three months time, the brand name will be retained as it signifies the sun and moreover it has a strong brand name as it has been in existence for over 25 years," he added.

Dinakaran with nine editions does not come under the Audit Bureau of Circulations (ABC) but is estimated to have a circulation of 3.5 lakh.

The market leader in Tamil Nadu, Daily Thanthi with fourteen editions has a circulation of 7.9 lakh copies and at a distant second is Dinamalar with a circulation of 5.8 lakh copies according to ABC data (July-December 2004).