ETV Staff Vacating Ramoji Film City

The sale of the basket of ETV channels lock, stock and barrel to TV18 and Network 18 group has been completed and it is time for the staff to move out of the Ramoji Film City, where the studios of various regional channels of ETV have been operating for several years.

According to sources, the new group would shift all the channels to New Delhi and as such, the satellite link for these channels would also be shifted to New Delhi by the end of March. This has left the fate of thousands of employees working in various departments – editorial, production, technical, camera section, make-up artistes etc. hanging in balance. Apparently, they were told that whoever wants to continue in the channels would have to move to New Delhi. And those who want to stay back would have to resign and look for other jobs.

Already, several employees have resigned and many others are planning to quit once they get good jobs. This has had impact on the colonies around Ramoji Film City, such as Vanasthalipuram and Hayatnagar, where hundreds of the ETV channel employees have been staying all these days. Many of the locals have build small portions to accommodate these ETV employees, mostly bachelors from all parts of the country, who found these localities cheap and convenient. There are quite a few beauty parlours in these colonies to cater to the needs of girls working in channel studios and acting in TV serials of various languages. Now that their jobs are lost and they are moving out in search of other opportunities, several houses have fallen vacant and the business has been severely affected.

What is more, even ETV Telugu and ETV-2 news channels retained by Ramoji Rao, are also moving out of the RFC and being shifted to Somajiguda office. The RFC authorities have also withdrawn hundreds of buses operating from different parts of the city to film city for the sake of channel employees.

Now, RFC will be used only for film shootings and of course, as a tourist spot. And only those employees working in the film city are now seen in the surrounding colonies.