Udaya News to shut operations: 73 employees will lose jobs

People of Karnataka in the 1990s had only one news channel to rely on after Doordarshan. Udaya News, the first 24x7 Kannada channel ruled the roost for many years, but is now shutting down owing to "substantial losses."

In a letter addressed to the Secretary to the Karnataka government, Sun Network — which owns the channel — said the operations of the channel would end on October 24, 2017, and 73 employees would lose their jobs.

"We have been operating the Udaya News division for the last 19 years and have made substantial investments in building the news business in Karnataka. Despite our best efforts, the news division has been incurring substantial losses over the past couple of years," Bangalore Mirror quoted the channel as stating in the application sent to the Regional Labour Department.

Udaya News, which started airing in Karnataka in 1998, enjoyed good viewership and had no competitor till the rise of TV 9 Kannada. Its TRP ratings reached new heights when it covered the Dr Rajkumar kidnap episode.

However, the ratings started declining after a series of news channels mushroomed over the past few years. It failed to remain in the race when its competitors presented stories laced with strong views.

As of now, TV 9 is in the numero uno position followed by Public TV and Suvarna News. Udaya News is in the sixth place among Kannada-language news channels, as per the latest data provided by the Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC).

However, other channels from the Sun Network, like Udaya TV, Udaya Movies and Udaya Comedy, will continue their operations.