It is a known fact that TDP president and former CM N Chandrababu Naidu is a media-savvy leader and is also a hot favourite of many of the media houses in the Telugu states.
The reason is simple: Naidu patronised the media to a large extent during his regime by giving them advertisements liberally, because he needed publicity for every small thing he had done. Needless to say, he used to get huge media coverage during his regime.
In the last year of his tenure as the chief minister, the TDP chief splurged money on advertisements on various populist schemes he had launched to appease the voters because the general elections were fast approaching.
And the media, too, religiously highlighted his achievements, gave extensive coverage to his meetings and did exclusive interviews with him. The channels have made more money than newspapers.
Between April 2018 and March 2019, the Naidu government gave huge advertisements to the channels ranging from Rs 5 lakh to Rs 50 lakh per month.
For instance, pro-TDP channels like ABN-Andhra Jyothy, ETV, TV9, TV5 and NTV were given advertisements to the extent of Rs 50 lakh per month.
While some channels got advertisements worth Rs 25 lakh, others were paid Rs 10 lakh to 30 lakh per month. Sakshi television channel owned by YSRC chief Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy, got Rs 10 lakh per month.
No wonder, Naidu is a darling for many of these channels, because of the money thrown by the then government!