Mathrubhumi TV, the television arm of Kerala's Mathrubhumi Group, is planning to invest Rs 500 million in a Malayalam news channel and a multi-lingual music channel.

Mathrubhumi News will launch on 23 January while Kappa TV, the music channel, will go on air from 1 February.

The launch of these two channels will mark print major Mathrubhumi's entry into Kerala's competitive TV news broadcasting space dominated by News Corp-owned Asianet Communications, its print media competitor Manorama News, news agency IANS' Reporter TV and India Vision News.

"We are investing Rs 500 in the news and the speciality channel," Mathrubhumi TV chief executive officer Mohan Nair tells Indiantelevision.com.

Both the channels are free-to-air and have already secured carriage deals with most of the cable operators in the state including Asianet Cable Television, Kerala's biggest multi-system operator (MSO).

Nair, who has earlier worked as Asianet Communications COO and Sri Lankan media conglomerate Maharaja Broadcasting Corporation CEO, believes that the television foray is a natural extension for the Mathrubhumi Group which has interests in print through leading Malayalam daily Mathrubhumi and in radio courtesy Club FM.

"We had diversified into radio some years back and so we saw a rightful extension in television," Nair says.

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