Tamil actor Vijayakanth to launch his television channel

Chennai, March 6 (IANS) Emulating other political parties in Tamil Nadu, actor-turned-politician Vijayakanth has decided to launch his own television channel and a fortnightly magazine to speak for his DMDK party.

'Captain (as Vijayakanth is popularly known as) has decided to launch a TV channel and a fortnightly magazine. It will be a 24-hour entertainment channel with news bulletins,' L.K. Sudeesh, Vijayakanth's brother-in-law, told the media here.

No date was, however, announced for the station to go on air.

The ruling DMK has Kalagnar TV from Raj TV group to project its image, while the opposition AIADMK has Jaya TV channel, which is planning a few more channels.

The Sun group has half a dozen channels, and the buzz is that Sun News is ready to return to the DMK fold.

Two Congress leaders in Tamil Nadu have two channels - Mega TV owned by K.V. Thangabalu and Vasanth TV owned by state legislator Vasanth Kumar. The PMK of S. Ramadoss has Makkal TV to act as its mouthpiece.