TOI to launch in Chennai

Our Corporate Bureau
07 June 2004

Chennai: After years of rumours about its entry into Chennai, the country's largest media company Bennett, Coleman & Company Limited, (publishers of the Times of India and The Economic Times) seems to have finally decided to bring out the Chennai edition of its flagship product, the TOI.

While the paper's top brass are tight-lipped, the indications are that the Chennai edition will come out sometime during the second half of this year.

The paper's corporate director, group, recently visited Chennai and had a series of meetings here. It is learnt that negotiations for acquiring the necessary machinery is on. It is also said that till TOI sets up its own printing infrastructure here, printing will be outsourced from at least two printing presses.

Sometime back, the group had called for applications for senior editorial positions for its southern operations as well as for other posts.

The decision to launch the Chennai edition seems to stem from the perception that the Chennai market likes the Times group products. The group's FM radio, Radio Mirchi ranks at the top amongst FM radio channels here. It may be recalled that Tamil Nadu's largest circulating Tamil newspaper, Daily Thanthi, sources one page of business stories from the group's financial daily The Economic Times.