times in chennai are.. err.. rather slimy

Its official. I am late with this entry of mine. But its official. The Times of India will start the most royal of wars for the newspapers turf. It will war The Hindu in its home turf. Expect battle royale. Expect the last Tamil New Year's day of April 14 (whatever thats supposed to mean) to be eventful.

This means that the Times.. err.. variously and more popularly called the slimes and other not so pleasant names has reached its final frontiers so far as India is concerned. Remember that ToI had planned to take on The Hindu long back. But with the HT hitting hard on the ToI's home turf, it had to rethink strategies. So sensing a welcoming opportunity, in came Deccan Chronicle into the ring. DC even had the then ToI Chennai marketing strategist or-so to put in his papers and join DC for its launch. It was successful nevertheless. But, Chronicle for all its youthfulness didnt really wake up the Old Lady of Mount Road. So much that The Hindu did not even consider a price cut.

But with ToI expect the battle to be serious and head-on. ToI has deep pockets and will definitely try using the same to put down the oh-not-so-well-to-do dailies, like it has always done in the past. This happened in Bangalore sometime back. But in Chennai expect things in reverse. Do remember that The Hindu is a conservative paper with a conservative management. What does that mean? While there are no questions as to the ToI having deep pockets, there are no questions about this Old Lady of Chennai either. The paper is rooted to Chennai!!! Apart from their values, and editorials and other stuff, the management is also rooted in Chennai. It is privately held with a huge circulation in Chennai. Almost all of its success is from the South, with Chennai accounting to a very sizable amount. That means that the paper has been enjoying undisputed revenues and profits apart from the good repute. So battle royale guaranteed!!

DC has had increased subscriptions. But, most of the friends/relatives I know of have DC as their second, yes second daily after you-know-who! So while DC successfully damaged the circulations of the Express, expect ToI return favor to the DC and the Express. But what really has happened over the past after DC's Chennai launch is that, the Old Lady has raised eyebrows. Not too late too. If you have been reading the Hindu, you would've noticed the oh-not-so in your face changes. The additions to the daily have been more focussed on areas historically uncovered by The Hindu. Trying to get the younger generation back to reading their paper has been a priority no doubt. It is still continuing, subtle changes happening every other week. It all started with the wide broad sheet to more acceptable international broad sheet standards. Then came the changes to its style, the extras started sporting a new look and now the tabloids added to the daily. Prices haven't dropped as yet though.

There has also been the new Ergo which has for now been promoted as a sister concern from the Kasturi stable. Not sure whats in store there.

But what apart from all this does the ToI bring in? One for sure is some good fight. The Hindu will need to be extra light on its feet henceforth. Expect the Hindu launching more editions in the ToI heartland. It does bring in a fight much required. There is some more... but thats should I guess be a whole new post :D