(S.Ravi Seshu)
Creating space for itself by competing with three market leaders—Deccan Chronicle, Times of India and The Hindu and three undersized publications—The New Indian Express, The Hans India and Metro India—is the biggest challenge for Telangana Today (TT), which is expected to hit the stands in the second week of August.
A professional TT team, led by senior journalist K.Srinivas Reddy, could create enough interest among media analyst notwithstanding the fact that the newspaper is taking too much time to take birth. Man power of the newspaper is ready but machinery is taking time to get installed. The Tiger (Mr.Reddy) is eager to mount the state-of-the-art printing machine, imported from Germany, while dissecting the dummies being brought by his energetic team. Telugu360.com is equally eager to bring the first cut of the TT to the readers.
Meanwhile, TT started its marketing exercise in Hyderabad. It is offering free delivery of its copies for first one month. “Sir, I am from Telangana Today, a new English newspaper to come from August 7. We are offering our paper free of cost for one month. If you like it, you may subscribe it later or stop the newspaper,” said a female marketing executive over phone on Thursday. She collected the address of this writer too to supply a free copy for 30 days!
It is learnt that the TT management wishes to deliver free copies to the subscribers of its main rivals–Times of India and Deccan Chronicle, according to unconfirmed sources. We don’t know the invitation price of TT.
It may be recalled that The Times of India, which entered Hyderabad market in September 2000, triggered a price war forcing The New Indian Express and The Hindu slash their cover price to Rs 1.50 by terming it as ‘a sacrifice price’ as against TOI’s Rs.1 of ‘invitation price.’ Irked by the trick, Mr.Manoj Kumar Sonthalia, Chairman and Managing Director of Express Publications (Madurai) Ltd, published a front page signed editorial alleging that ‘newspaper price wars are both unethical and unprofessional”. He went on to say that ‘such price wars occur when a rogue newspaper resorts to cheating on the one hand and commercial crassness on the other’.
The TOI, in a front page editorial, had clarfied that the concept of invitation price was devised to enable more and more individuals to gain access to the Republic of Letters. It announced that TOI would contribute Re. 1 from every issue sold to the Chief Minister’s Relief Fund on a daily basis for one month. Someone should check the veracity of this claim as part of an investigation.
When launched in Chennai in March 2008, Deccan Chronicle too adopted the same ploy of invitation price of Re.1 and offered annual subscription at Rs.99 of ICICI Bank’s card holders when the undisputed market leader of Tamil Nadu, The Hindu, was sold for Rs.3.25 on weekdays and Rs.4.50 on Sundays. To counter TOI’s ruthless Re.1 campaign in the Port City of Visakhapatnam in 2012, Deccan Chronicle offered its Telugu sister publication “Andhra Bhoomi’ free of cost as a complimentary. It remains to be seen whether Hyderadadis would get a free copy of ‘Namaste Telangana’ along with Telangana Today.
