Singapore Tamil Youth Conference 2016 Manifesto NUSTLS Singapore Tamil Youth Conference 2016 Manif | Page 62

Issue 10: Tamil Media
The achievements and milestones
of Vasantham:
Small industry and most artists are
part-timers yet there have been
quality programs produced.
From telecasting for only a few
hours daily back in 2008 as
Vasantham central, it is now a full
fledged channel that runs up to 24
hours on special occasions.
Limitations and areas for improvement for Vasantham:
Compared to profit driven huge channel networks overseas, Vasantham is
home grown and has a smaller audience, thus fewer resources
Due to government funding, the drive to constantly improve and be
innovative/sensitive to the audiences’ tastes and preferences is not as
pressing as compared to privately run channels. (Mediacorp: On the
contrary, Vasantham has always been strategizing on their programming
content to be relevant with their audiences. They face stiff competition
from over 25 Indian cable channels and they need to constantly innovate
and be sensitive to their audiences’ tastes and preferences. And they have
been successful in achieving their objectives. Despite the competition,
Vasantham’s viewership has increased year on year and in 2015, achieved
its highest viewership since they became a full channel in 2008, and is way
ahead of the cable competition. This is a strong testimony of the strong
local content that Vasantham produces.)
The industry has also been Over emphasis on producing dramas rather than improving the quality of
profitable
enough
enabling infotainment/children/variety programs. (Local production house, 2016)
production houses to thrive by
producing Tamil program solely. (R.
Venga, 2016)
Many local artists have been able to “As a government funded and controlled channel, Vasantham, as with all of
breakthrough to Tamil media Mediacorp, faces certain restrictions in creative space. Moreover, the
overseas: Vishnu Anand, Pravin Tamil Program Advisory Committee(PAC) in MediaCorp, is not much
Saivi, Shabir Tabare Alam, Anandha helpful in dealing with broadcast matters as there is little expertise within
Kannan, Hemamalini, etc.
the committee. Given its political leadership, there is a dilemma for
Television producer T Dhavamani program makers – to obey or ignore the advice.” (Former PAC member)
has produced many quality (Mediacorp: The Tamil Program Advisory Committee is not set up by
television programs including ‘Guru Mediacorp. It is set up by the Media Development Authority (MDA)).
Paarvai’. He wrote and directed
‘Gurushetram’ which is considered
the first full-length Tamil film
produced entirely in Singapore.
Issue 10: Tamil Media
PAGE 62