MARGAZHI MAHA UTSAVAM - on SUN TV

[subhasree]

its official now, and all home viewers get geared up.

The SUN TV broadcast begins with T M KRISHNA concert. On 15 th decemeber 6 am to 7 am.
This is the first time Sun TV ventures to a full fledged classical music program.
And obviously I am happy it is through MMU. In the year 2000, Vijay TV started their classical journey with this. 2002 onwards, Jaya tv took over. And now the king of satellite channels SUN TV is the official channel for telecast.
My sincere thnks to all well wishers and the music fraternity, that stood strong by me to pull this year on. And special thanks to Mrs Radhika , RADAAN tv who is the main reason for this show to be on SUN TV.
I think there is SUN TV even in Antartica. So possibly it is truly reaching the whole world.
GOD IS GREAT

[kvchellappa]

Thanks.
A nice ending to the news of Sun TV telecast: 'God is great.'

[Vocalist]

You tube links will not be available for a long while now. And even when it comes it wl be only abridged version of the telecast master. Much shorter than what went on air.

Could you please explain why this is the case now? I hope my disappointment/exasperation is at least understandable when you consider the following background.

From at least 2002 until 2012, I've observed the world wide web promote this program across Tamil Nadu, India, and the globe among rasikas of Carnatic music. While the full concerts were not telecast (which was a pity) despite some efforts to access previous seasons full telecasts, the portions which were telecast on Jaya TV were usually quite good.

I remember recordings of the telecast which were shared almost immediately online without a charge or expectation from fellow rasikas, so everyone can have an experience of this event during the best part of "Margazhi". I am aware of one member in another forum who made many efforts to ensure this was not a copyright issue for rasikas when the doubt arose for the first time; after being given the run-around, he reported that he was finally put through to someone at Jaya TV who confirmed it was not an issue.

In the end, the uploaded telecasts aided the promotion of this art form and aided the public in recognising many artists. In fact, having discussed this program with a couple of artists in previous years, they also admitted that they relished the opportunity to present both popular, special, and even rare items. They were pleased to know that rasikas would not miss the telecast of the event, the free and prompt uploads of the event during the season, and the positive impression it would leave on rasikas both about the artists, and the event. It was the one telecast which did not have commercial "strings attached".

Interestingly, certain artists who have such strong views against the sharing of such recordings were only in more recent years added as performers in the line up. Soon, South Indian TV channels caught up to start its own Youtube channel - Jaya TV being no exception in 2013. Although it did not approve of other users uploading its content anymore, rasikas were fine as Jaya TV would upload the official telecast promptly for viewers and rasikas - again without any strings attached. In fact, it was with higher resolution quality than what Youtube uploaders previously provided. This made perfect sense, seeing the telecast was originally made on a channel which did not require viewers to subscribe or pay extra.

This year in 2014, media coverage seems limited when compared to before; I'd found a lone article which mentioned that the program was now on Sun TV. I have no doubt many have missed some or all of the telecasts for some reason or another, and would have been curious to see the new program. Disappointingly though, I could not find a free upload of the Sun TV telecasts anywhere at all.

Personally, I'm not especially bothered if it was a pay-to-view full concert. It's likely I'd be one of the first to subscribe, as I have with other ventures in India, USA, etc. But these are the issues as I see them:
[*] Any subscription is not available still. The website which might be offering it is apparently still under construction (though it oddly has photos of artists from Bharat Sangeet Utsav 2010)??
[*] Any uploads of the telecast version are not made available promptly after telecast. Vijay TV for example is miles ahead in this regard with all of their programs for their viewers, so I'm confused by the extreme lag here.
[*] Even of the free telecast on Sun TV, only a limited portion will be uploaded. Rasikas and students, particularly those who are more disadvantaged, will miss out on enjoying the full telecast again, or using the full telecast as a learning tool, both visually and aurally.

Are these issues due to a lack of sponsors (or the wishes of signed up sponsors)? Or Sun TV? Or the venue owners? Or the performing artists? Or the organisers team? There may very well be a perfectly reasonable explanation, and maybe it's just that I don't know what the "challenging circumstances" were which might have led to this.

Whatever or whomever is responsible though, worldwide rasikas who miss the Sun TV telecasts currently seem to be losing out for reasons unknown, despite all of the direct (and indirect) support they have given over the many years. I appreciate the efforts taken by every individual who has made this event happen in the past, so I don't wish to seem ungrateful. But the news is frustrating or disappointing - and I am sure I am not the only one who feels that way.

[PUNARVASU]

I am watching Shri Vijay Siva on SunTV MU. He sang 'bhajarE citta' with niraval and swarams for the line from anupallavi , 'aruNAm nityAm kalyANIm'. I did not hear the charaNam of the song. Did I miss out or it was edited out!

[kunthalavarali]

R K Sriramkumar's version of Kalyani ragam was also deleted. The program which was telecast for 60 minutes earlier has been reduced to 45 minutes.

[HarishankarK]

Hi Subashree,

Please upload the MMU abridged videos in youtube like every year. There are many rasikas around the world who may not have a television or access to cable. But mostly everyone has a laptop and internet access. Hence please upload the videos in youtube also.

Thanks,