Vasantham TV
Vasantham TV is the Tamil language broadcasting channel of the Independent Television Network Limited (ITN). ITN is a company that is presently owned by the state. The Secretary to the Treasury, which comes under the purview of the Ministry of Finance and Mass Media, owns all of the shares of ITN. Founded in 2009, Vasantham TV initially catered to the Tamil-speaking audience of the Western Province. Eventually, it expanded its coverage to other regions including the Northern, Eastern and Uva Provinces of the country. Vasantham TV telecasts programmes such as news, serial teledramas from South and North India and Sri Lanka, talk shows, religious and other social programmes.
Audience Share
2.4%
Ownership Type
State owned
Geographic Coverage
National
Content Type
Free to air
Media Companies / Groups
ITN
Ownership Structure
While the Independent Television Network (ITN) was nationalised by the Gazette Extraordinary No. 39/4 of June 1979, it was brought under the Sri Lanka Rupavahini Corporation Act no. 6 of 1982 which is presently under the Ministry of Finance and Mass Media. The Secretary to the Treasury owns 100 percent of shares of the Independent Television Network Limited (ITN) which houses Vasantham TV. This body comes under the purview of the Ministry of Finance and Mass Media.
Voting Rights
Missing Data
Individual Owner
General Information
Founding Year
2009
Affiliated Interests Founder
Vasantham TV was founded by the Independent Television Network Limited (ITN) which is a state-owned public company. Founded by the Chairperson of Telshan Networks (Pvt) Limited (TNL) and the brother of the incumbent Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, Shan Wickremesinghe, ITN commenced its operations as a private sector company in April 1979. However, it was nationalised by the Gazette Extraordinary No. 39/4 of June 1979. In 1992, it was incorporated as a state-owned public limited company.
Currently, ITN manages two media platforms in TV and radio broadcasting. In the TV sector, it manages ITN and Vasantham TV. The Sinhala language TV channel ITN has an audience reach of 7 percent, while the Tamil language channel Vasantham TV has an audience reach of 2.4 percent. In the sector of radio broadcasting, ITN manages ITN FM, which has an audience reach of 0.48 percent and Vasantham FM, which has an audience reach of 1.6 percent. ITN FM was formerly known as Lakhanda and this radio station originated as a subsidiary of the Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation (SLBC). It was incorporated into ITN in April 1997.
In addition to its existing radio and television outlets, ITN previously had another English language TV channel named Prime TV and a radio station named Prime Radio Sri Lanka. Both outlets ceased broadcasting in 2011.
Although ITN was formed and registered as a private company, since becoming a state-owned public company, all of its 9,500,000 shares are vested in the Secretary to the Treasury of the Government of Sri Lanka. This body comes under the purview of the Ministry of Finance and Mass Media.
Affiliated Interests Ceo
Chandana Thilakarathna is the CEO of Independent Television Network Limited (ITN). He served as a Senior Consultant at China Radio International. Before joining ITN, he served as the CEO for Sath FM.
Affiliated Interests Editor-In-Chief
Paraneetharan Murugesu Kulendran currently serves as the Channel Head of Vasantham TV. He concurrently serves as the Channel Head of Vasantham FM. He has previously served as the Programme Manager at Sooriyan FM, which belongs to Asia Broadcasting Corporation (Pvt) Limited. Additionally, he has held the position of Assistant General Manager at Varnam FM and Channel Head of Vettri FM. The latter station belongs to the Voice of Asia Network (Pvt) Limited.
Affiliated Interests other important people
J.M. Thilaka Jayasundara was appointed the Chairperson of ITN in May 2018. She is the Additional Secretary (Development/ Planning) of the Ministry of Finance and Mass Media. She has previously held the following positions:
Director and Liaison Officer of the Asia Productivity Organisation (APO) in Sri Lanka
Director and Deputy Director of the National Productivity Secretariat (NPS) of Sri Lanka
Head of the National Productivity Organisation of Sri Lanka
Director of Planning, Research and Development within the Ministry of Labour Relations and Productivity Promotion
Contact
Independent Television Network
Wickramasinghepura, Battaramulla, Sri Lanka
Telephone: +94 11 2774 424, +94 11 2774 725, +94 11 2773 289
Fax: +94 11 277 4591, +94 11 277 4421
Email: manager@vasantham.lk
Website: www.vasantham.lk
Financial Information
Revenue (in Mill. $)
Missing Data
Operating Profit (in Mill. $)
Missing Data
Advertising (in % of total funding)
Missing Data
Market Share
Missing Data
Further Information
Meta Data
The Annual Report of Independent Television Network Limited (ITN) for the year 2015 provides the ownership details of the Independent Television Network Limited (ITN), which is the company that manages Vasantham TV. Further data on ownership was collected from the annual returns available at the Department of Registrar of Companies. The most recently available data for ITN is from the year 2018. Secondary sources were referenced for details regarding the founder and key people of the media outlet. Meanwhile, viewership data was gathered from the Kantar Lanka Market Research Bureau (LMRB) for the year 2017. While the Media Ownership Monitor research team reached out to ITN by formally requesting for the company’s information on 20 July 2018, the company did not respond to the aforementioned request.
