TRIVANDRUM, 30 July — August is a hot month. In Kerala’s television industry, things will be hotter with the entry of new TV channels in the already overcrowded space.

Jeevan TV will go on air from Aug. 1. Another channel, India Vision TV, is also preparing for a launch on Aug. 17.

Understandably, the existing channels are preparing themselves hard for the impending battle.

Jeevan TV, believed to be promoted by the Thrissur archdiocese, will be headquartered at Cochin.

Sources close to the channel say that the share capital of the channel is 50 million rupees, with close to 7000 shareholders contributing to it.

Adding to the bandwagon of TV channels is India Vision TV. Speaking to IANS, the India Vision TV promoter, state Public Works Department Minister Dr. M.K. Muneer, said: “We are all set to go. We will have our head office at Cochin from where the uplinking would be done.”

With Asianet, Surya, Doordarshan and Kairali channels already operating in the state, the moot question now being asked is whether the advertisement revenue being generated will be adequate to keep this many number of channels floating.

C. Praveen, general manager of Surya TV, sounds unperturbed. He said: “We have nothing to prove. The onus is on others to prove.

Competition is always welcome and we are ready. Our revenues have grown by 50 percent in the last one year, so we are not at all worried “

According to a recent audience survey, Surya TV has 35 programs in the top 60 Malayalam programs.

Asianet was the first private TV channel to start operating in the state. It had has recently resorted to a major overhaul of its top officials and is also planning major changes in the program content in order to fight competition.

The third private TV channel, Kairali, promoted by the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPM) in the state, appears to be struggling and film superstar Mammooty, the chairman of the channel, today spends more time in the Cochin office of the channel than on the film sets.

Kairali also faces severe shortage of funds and for the past few months has not been able to pay the full salaries of its employees. Presently the channel is sitting on losses of about 90 million rupees.

The immediate fallout of the increasing number of channels is going to be a dip in the advertisement revenues.

More importantly with technology changing fast, all these channels would have to find fresh investments for modernizing their studios.

Only time will tell what is in store for the players on Kerala’s TV turf.