Ravi Prakash revolutionized the News Channels Space in Telugu during his stint in TV9. He was the Founder-CEO of TV9. He triggered a new trend of 24X7 News Reporting and kickstarted a rat race for TRPs. He is considered the most successful media personality for the same reason.
Every News Channel in Telugu still uses the same template.
After TV9 management changed, Ravi Prakash was unceremoniously sent out of the channel and he had to face cases as well.
For a very long time, Ravi Prakash has been working on starting a News Channel.
Since the Central Government has stopped giving new licenses for News Channels, he acquired an existing but low-lying channel ‘Rayudu TV’ and tried to foray as RTV which can be also the short form of Raviprakash TV.
He initiated the soft run of the channel on YouTube first and even made several recruitments. The channel was run like a full-fledged Web Channel but it ran into problems due to Republic TV.
Republic TV filed a Trademark Infringement case on the channel and the issue is current in the court.
Republic TV sought damages to the tune of Rs 100 crore for the alleged “unfair trade practice”. RTV (Rayudu TV) argued that it it had been using the RTV logo since 2007, much prior to the incorporation of Republic TV which took place in 2016.
Mumbai High Court earlier this week dismissed an interim plea by news channel Republic TV seeking an urgent stay on the use of the logo.
The legal issues have delayed the channel launch and this ruling of the Mumbai High Court is some relief to Ravi Prakash.
There are rumors in the market that RTV also has some license issues with the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting. The unconfirmed rumors even say TV9 is using its clout in Delhi to stop the license for RTV.
Ravi Prakash plans to operate RTV in multiple languages to disrupt the space in Telugu as well as other languages.
We will have to see if these issues can be resolved and if the channels can be launched before the Elections in Telugu States. Elections in Telangana are just around three months.
