PRITAM SENGUPTA writes from New Delhi: A top Bennett, Coleman & Co management honcho this evening confirmed that the Times of India has picked up a majority 76 per cent stake in the Vijaya Karnataka group for Rs 170 crore.
The deal was finalised on Tuesday in Bombay. With Vijaya Karnataka and Vijay Times now in its stable, BCCL will have a 60 per cent share of the morning newspaper market in Karnataka, the senior executive said.
"That should be enough to preempt Hindustan Times' planned entry into Bangalore!" the source added. "BCCL will retain Vijay Times as a regional brand and use ToI as a national brand."
Vijay Sankeshwar is estimated to have pumped in over Rs 60 crore on the three papers in the last five-plus years. The Rs 170 crore deal fetches him a cool Rs 100 crore return on his investment, plus some loose change.
Vijaya Karnataka, Vijay Times and Usha Kirana boast a combined ad revenue of around Rs 7 crore per month, with almost all of it coming from the Kannada paper. But Sankeshwar was reportedly losing around Rs one crore a month on the three papers.
Vijayanand Printers Limited, as per internal assessments, was expected to turn in profits from May 2007.
Not a bad deal either. Sankeshwar a man who came to hubli with a single lorry is now getting few 100 crores in kitty. He can continue to focus on his strenghts such as business of transport and travels.
It seems today offices of VK, VT, UK were in the state of panic!
The VK staff is use to call Vijay sankeshwar as LaMa (lorry malaka) and Vishy bhat as LaCha (lorry chalaka). Now TOI has entered the scene and it is quite interesting as how LaCha will face the new LaMa.
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Ohhh,
TOI will start contract system in VK,VT and UK too. Fate of Jouurnalists? Only God knows!!
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Kannadigas lost thier paper. It is a loss to Kannadigas.
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TOI and VK are two faces of the same coin. both treat journalism as market, uses the paper as tool to extend their interests. both brought baddies to journalism, both are followers of ‘murdochism’. society interest for both is just a mask.
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the only change that we will see would be some snaps of people trying to look hep on the page 3 of VK also
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Not a good news for Kannada people. VK will loose its regional flavour. We all know which political party TOI supports and the kind of reporting it does. For Timesaff India (courtesy Ravi Belagere), kitty parties attended by rich is a big news and most of the times it is embarassing to open the Bangalore times supplement in front of our children.
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I am from the same place from where Vijay Shankeshwar belongs to. I am a regular reader of VK which made revolution in the kannada daily newspaper industry. Initially I was very much impressed right from the quality of paper to the language. Later as VK takes over the market leadership from Prajavani, Samyukhta Karnataka the mindset of Vijay has changed. Even I heard there was some differences between Vishy Bhutt and Vijay. Vijay is alwasy tried to become rich and popular which we all know from his actions. He was in BJP, then floated his own party Kannada Nadu, then he joined JD(S). His hip-hopping from one party to another shows his fickle minded and not dedicated. I am writing his political story because it had an impact over the newspaper also. I agree that he has diversified his business but meanwhile he should not leave his core business. His travels business he has not focussed there are so many complaints from the passengers but he is not interested to listen that. I am one of the person who hates TOI like anything, the way it was coming is completely changed. TOI bothers only the rich, hi class and P3 people. VK was also heading in that way. The column of Dating, massage parlours are really making harm to the society which TOI is publishing. TOI is spoiling the culture of India and now VK also joined the hands of TOI to prevent HT to enter Bangalore. How ridiculous?
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Its sad that VK is being sold to TOI. VK was being filled with advt off late, but it had its own flavour and many times published stories which were really in the interests of kannada and karnataka.
If this news paper goes to TOI, I better switch to Kannada Prabha.
Now VK (i.e. TOI) and Prajavani will be competing with each other to support Congress.
The p3 culture will enter achcha kannadiga’s homes also.
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Really sad! We lost one kannadiga with selling stake in local news paper. Can we really expect the same from TOI!!
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At first, we thought it is rumour. LaCHa(Bhatta) usully spread rumours if there are any problem in his office. Remebr, Sudha Murthy opening paper with BHat as E.M.M.Editor…!etc
THis time it is true.
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LaCHa now desparatly needed few hundred cores rupees. THis 100 just not enough. Do you think he is doing good business ? He floated number of company. Once upon a time he was famous for his bus and lorry service. NOw. don’t buy a ticket in VRL bus.
And, just visit PF website to find whether his company’s name figured in the defaulters list. It was!
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Oh! What a fall my countrmen, when I, You and everybody fell down and bloody treason overtook us-a la Julius Ceasar. We were frustrated about TOI and how they corrupted young minds and switched over to our desi Deccan Herald. Then DH became boring and off the current affairs, when they became terible we had to look for some other paper and tried VT, but Lo! This is also being sold. What a disgrace?
When VT started, there were many people who questioned ethics and Vijay Sankeshwar gamble into media in a big way. Because by then the news of how he was running Vijay Karnataka was already out. Ishwar Daitotat and the other senior journalists who built the paper were treated badly and the cunning Visweshwar Bhat who was thrown out of Ananth Kumar’s office made a beeline and got a blessing in disguise. The stooge and lackey from Indian Express- TJS stable knows nothing of journalism but bootlicking and chamchagiri. His second honeymeon to Malaysia through Ananth Kumar and his blackmailing tactics are well konwn and ask any BJP worker he will tell you how he polished the shoes of Ananthkumar. It is another matter that one crook understands another too quickly and that is how he got the boot. With a sting operator in Ravi Belegere on hold, he promoted himself by giving stories to blackmail his boss. Thus he rose up the ladder. Now he will face the music. The rumour of his joining Samyukta Karnataka made some of the hardcore journalist scamper and to safer nests. It is a very good development in that sense that V Bhat will be mauled by professionals and he will lick his own wounds. Watch out for this chameleon who konws how to promote himself and come up. But not long.
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Vijay Karnataka started off well but failed to live up to its clean image. Several journalists were unceremenously sent out. After Vishy Bhat was ushered in, he grew up from rags to riches by promoting himself very well and strengthened his position. Insiders in the paper clearly speak of his typical charesteristics. He used all his skill -not as a journalist- but like a shakhuni and played several games. He was tricky, clever and cunning.
People in BJP tell us that he wrote a piece on Atal Behari Vaijpayee and curried favor. When he was kicked out, he pushed himself to Vijay Karnataka astutely and through the good books of Vijay Sankeshwar, Later in private he was openly criticising the group and also calling Vijay Sankeshwar names. When the going got tough, he would float a rumuor and pretend ignorance. After slowly collecting information about VS, he started to blackmail. He tried this during elections when he offered to quit and there was no takers. VS stood up and VBhat ran back and fell at his feet. He wrote parody’s and praise and got favors. He is indeed a third rate politician in the garb of an editor. Insiders also say that it is because of such dirty tricks in VK that VS started another paper from his own group. Thus VBhat has to be blamed by Kanandigas for having played all his selfish tricks at the cost of our Kannada Nadu and sold out our prestige. He should be hounded out and taught a lesson.
He pretends to be an RSS member but actually has no character. He cleverly fools the organisation by writing scripts borrowed from senior karyakarthas and printing them. By this trick he gets “Two birds with one stone” One he pleases the RSS, the other he praises the person who helped him and cultivates him to canvas support within. A dubions person without principles. Sooner he is thrown out the better.
He should know that “It is easy to fool some, sometime, All sometime, but not all -aLL THE TIME!!
Good Luck to the Shakuni?
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This is very sad news.
But I strongly feel that TOI will retain Vishweshwar Bhat as VK’s editor. As an editor of VK V.Bhat has shown commendable performance. He proved himself as a very good writer. Very few editors in Kannada are in the habit of writing. V.Bhat stands No.1. Other notable name is Ravi Belagere. V.Bhat is responsible for the success of VK which is a known secret to Kannadigas. V.Bhat is a level headed, balanced, modern editor keeping the basics in his core. All the best to VK and V.Bhat
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when ananthakumar was a minister in central govt,rooms were booked in 5 star hotels for people like vish bhat & belegere & all kinds of services were provided.what kind of report one can expect from these people.smell of rss & bjp were evident intheir papers naturally.those who have bjp & rss mentality find them good.for others,they are like crooks
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Where did all the money go which VS got from Anantkumar. 170 Crores must be just a gimmick to cover up from the Hundreds of Crores of Money Looted from Hudco Scam.
VS has lot of Dirty Money but he pretends that he is in LOSS.
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If VK is getting sold, why people are cribbing about Vishy Bhat?
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Ranga,new editor 4 VK
It is just heard that Ranganath,editor of Kannada Prabha(express group) will be the new editor of Vijay Karnataka. It is certain that Vbhat’s days arecounted at VK.
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The debate here must have been restricted to the sale of Vijay Karnataka newspaper. But I am pained to read bloggers have been using this forum to settle their personal scores with the newspaper’s editor. If the allegations are to be believed that Vishy has been fooling his own Master and fellow journos for quite some time. But how can any editor fool his readers for such a long time. VK scaled new heights under Vishy’s stewardship. Its mind boggling 6.00 Lakh++ Circulation and 10 times the readership. Why not we accept that Vishy has some good leadership quality which has made VK a roaring success. But for his contacts, the content of the paper would not have been better.
The rumours of Vishy blackmailing his own Master are all baseless. Sankeshwar is a shrewd businessman and has no great comulsions to keep Vishy if he were to be a liability. The paper and its owners needed him more, and as a matter of fact he was the darling of every Kannada newspaper in the market. It is unfortunate that oldtimers who can not tolerate achievements of an youngster like Vishy Bhat have started mud slinging through this blog.
How many editors of Kannada Newspapers can bring columnists like Sharada Prasad, Ravi Belagere, CR Simha, Hiremagalur Kannan, Sudha Murthy, H Dundiraj, Pratap Simha and Haldodderi Sudhindra together in a common forum. Which other newspaper has the kind of variety VK’s Editorial page provides?
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I do agree partially with Anil Kumar, if not fully. Let me clarify to all of you that I am neither a Journo nor a sympathiser of Sangh Parivar and never a fan of any editor, let alone Vishveshwar Bhat.
The secret of VK’s success is its variety. There is something new for the readers everyday. If I remember right, its Vishveshwar Bhat who started columns from unusual people. None of us ever heard of Pratap Simha, CR Simha, Haldodderi Sudhindra before VK’s columns. Ofcourse most of us enjoy the punch and pungency in the columns of Ravi Belagere and Vishveshwar Bhat. There is some freshness breathing at VK compared to all other conventional newspapers. And thanks to Bhat for experimenting with new ideas.
I really do not know whether Tirumalachari is weaving unbelievable stories. But I am sure that he is settling some scores with Vishveshwar Bhat through this forum. Bhat has his inner strength through his qualifications, experience and peer interaction. He is much above the contemporary editors and Kannada journalism is fortunate to have people like him.
And I think Sukanya is totally sold out to anti-BJP lobby of this country. The vengenceful outburst of hers clearly indicates she is totally biased.
Let this discussion continue, but not with mud slinging on Bhat or any other editor.
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Let’s wish Mr. Sankeshwar well and hope that he will listen to his transportation and travel customers to improve and grow his business. Let’s hope that the lives of the current employees of VT and VK are not ruined by the new management.
TOI is a piece of trash. Too bad it now has a majority stake in VK and VT. For a newspaper that claims to be national news paper, TOI looks more like a national tabloid-trash which satisfies the curiosity of a 12 year old boy. The regional coverage does not exist and its national coverage is light and superficial. It is often embarassing to pick up the newspaper for the fear of made up sex surveys or product placements shamelessly disguised as news articles on the front page.
Among English papers in Bangalore, The Hindu is the best. Deccan Herald is a distant second followed by VT. A pro-BJP person will not like the liberal and secular bias of the editorials in The Hindu, but, it offers excellent national. regional and local coverage; decent arts coverage and book reviews (even Kannada books).
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GC is right.
The Hindu has never been a Pro-Hindu newspaper. Thanks to the leftist leanings of N Ram, the Editor.
The Hindu has always been a Nationalist newspaper, unlike TOI which was pro-british. The Hindu believed in values and took care to feed the right kind of news. Though people comment, its a retired person’s favourite, for its lengthy reports, The Hindu changed with the times. With Bofors Scam at the helm of affairs, it competed with Indian Express. Arts, Literature, Science always got their due share in addition to the Political Analysis, Foreign Affairs and ofcourse Sports.
TOI is no doubt a big tabloid which sells Sex, Lies and Lifestyle. But the growing urban population of Call Centre kind, like TOI, than The Hindu. But The Hindu has never been aggressive in selling, excepting for the Madrasi Market.
Coming to the Deccan Herald, they lost to TOI due to shear negligence. They were more interested in nurturing caste politics in the editorial rooms, than building the newspaper. Otherwise a most respectable and reliable newspaper of DH stable, Prajavani would not have lost to Vijay Karnataka. Though PV picked up, DH has been loosing heavily.
As for as Sankeshwar’s papers are concerned, he is a (not too) Old Man in a Hurry. His advisors and adversaries are clearly misleading him. But as a shrewd businessman he is looking for profits now. He dreamt of becoming CM of Karnataka with No.1 Kannada Dailiy Newspaper (in the world!). With the divorce from BJP and unsuccessful launch of Kannada Nadu and sense of insecurity with JD(S), Sankeshwar must have decided to dispense with the Newspapers. He is more comfortable dealing with Lorry Drivers than Journalists.
And thanks to GC for diverting the topic from Vishy-Bashing to Status of English Newspapers in Karnataka
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It is indeed a tragedy that a newspaper like Vijaya Karnataka should be sold to the Time of India. Vijaya Karnataka had made a mark in Kannada journalism, never mind the price strategy of Vijay Sankeshwar. His decision to sell the newspaper only shows that he is a businessman, with scant respect to journalism. He is only interested in making a cool buck. That he should sell it to a media house, which too has little regard for journalism only proves the adage “Birds of same feather flock together” to be true.
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It is a very sad day for Kannadigas and it only shows that Mr.Vijay Sankeswar is pakka marwadi who doesnot have any attachement towards people of karnataka. We supported him at every stage are fooled by this deal. Save karnataka from TOI. Deccan Herald/Parajavani it is the best time for win “KANNADIGARA MANASU”.
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It is really sad that we kannadigas have lost a “strong ” paper VK to TOI which is nothing but trash.
It promotes all those things which is alie to kannada language & culture.It has scant regard to kannadigas & is only bothered about making money.
It’s very unfortunate that such grat papers like Prjavani & DC have lost their sheen.It is the right opportunity for them to bounce back which is the wish of all kannadigas.
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Its really sorry to see VK been sold to TOI. It will impact the youth…. following western type of culture.
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Watch “The truth about “SECULAR” Indian Media” on www dot youtube dot com. It’ll shock you!
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TO
THE HONOURABLE CHIEF & HEAD OF VRL LOGISTICS LTD,
VARUR ,HUBLI
HONOURABLE SIR,
NOWADAY’S IT HAS BECOME A HABIT FOR THE OFFICIALS OF YOUR COMPANY VRL TO PUT ADVERTISEMENTS IN NEWSPAPERS REGARDING SELECTION/ RECRUITMENT OF MECHANICS, ELECTRICIANS,WELDERS & SUPERVISORS..THESE ADVERTISEMENTS ARE COMING IN NEWSPAPERS VERY OFTEN NOWADAY’S…
WHY ALL THIS IS HAPPENING……..
THE REASON BEHIND ALL THIS IS THAT THE PERSONS INCHARGE OF YOUR VARUR WORKSHOP ARE SICK MINDED & ARROGANT.
THE WORKS MANAGER, THE (DGM ) BAPU MAKANNAVAR & THE( GM ) RAGHUNATHAN ARE ALL RESPONSIBLE PERSONS WHO ARE BASICALLY SICK MINDED & MENTALLY ILL PERSONS.
THEY ELIMINATE/REMOVE/DISMISS TECHNICALLY GOOD PERSONS LIKE GOOD EXPERIENCED MECHANICS,ELECTRICIANS,WELDERS & SUPERVISORS FOR SIMPLE PETTY REASONS TO MAINTAIN SO CALLED DISCIPLINE IN THE COMPANY ONLY TO SHOW THEIR POWER ON JUNIOR PEOPLE.. NOW THEY KEEP ON SEARCHING FOR TECHNICIANS IN NEWSPAPERS.
BEING THE HEAD OF THE VRL COMPANY YOU & YOUR SON ARE ALWAYS BUSY REGARDING SALE OF OLD TYRES IN THE WORKSHOP AT VARUR. YOU BOTH ARE CARELESS ABOUT YOUR COMPANY WHICH WILL BECOME FROM A GOOD COMPANY TO A PAUPER COMPANY ONE DAY. YOU & YOUR SON ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR THE DESTRUCTION OF VRL COMPANY WHICH IS DOING GOOD WORK OF FEEDING POOR PEOPLE FROM ALL PARTS OF INDIA AT PRESENTLY.
YOUR DECISION IS SUCH POOR TYPE. WE WILL GIVE AN EXAMPLE FOR THIS.
YOU HAD DISMISSED A SUPERVISOR NAMED VEERESH SANGAREDDY FROM TRUCK SECTION OF WORKSHOP (VARUR) AS ONE DRIVER HAD COMPLAINED TO YOU THAT THIS SUPERVISOR HAD SENT THE VEHICLE TO TPT GROUND INSPITE OF A PATA BEING CUT. THIS DRIVER HAD ALSO SENT A PHOTOGRAPH SOME TWO YEARS BACK….. BUT THE SAME PERSON VEERESH SANGAREDDY WAS TAKEN BACK INTO VRL COMPANY ON THE SAME POST IN TRUCK SECTION AFTER ONE MONTH.. PEOPLE LAUGHED AT YOUR FICKLEMINDEDNESS & YOUR COMPANY’S INDISCIPLINE. THIS SUPERVISOR VEERESH IS SUCH A CORRUPT PERSON THAT HE TAKES MONEY FROM TARPAULIN PATCH WORKER BASWANTH ON COMMISSION BASIS. IF YOU WANT YOU CAN SECRETLY CHECK YOURSELF. THE TRUCK SECTION CLERK KALLAPPA PATIL IS BUSY BRAINWASHING THE TRUCK DRIVERS MINDS WHO(DRIVERS) KEEP ON FIGHTING WITH THE SUPERVISORS & MECHANICS CONSTANTLY. YOU DO ONE THING. YOU TAKE FULL RESPONSIBILITY OF SELECTION & DISMISSAL OF TECHNICAL GOOD EXPERIENCED PERSONS. YOU TAKE THE POWERS OF BAPU MAKANNAVAR, RAGHUNATHAN & WORKS MANAGER IN YOUR HANDS COMPLETELY. THEY ARE ALL SICK MINDED PEOPLE. YOU PLEASE TRY TO UNDERSTAND. YOU & YOUR SON PLEASE TAKE CARE OF VRL COMPANY WHICH IS PROVIDING BREAD & BUTTER TO THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE.
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