Shan Wickremesinghe

Deshabandu Shanthilal Nilkantha Wickremesinghe, popularly known as Shan Wickremesinghe (born 20 December 1947), is a Sri Lankan media proprietor, television presenter and a broadcast engineer. He is the founder of Sri Lanka's first television station ITN and the current chairman of TNL TV television and radio network. He is the older brother of the former President of Sri Lanka, Ranil Wickremesinghe.

Personal life He was born on 20 December 1947 in Colombo as the eldest of the family. His parents were Esmond Wickremesinghe and Nalini Wickremesinghe née Wijewardena . His father was an ex-Lanka Sama Samaja Party lawyer who became a media proprietor taking over the Associated Newspapers of Ceylon Limited. His grandfathers were Cyril Wickremesinghe and D. R. Wijewardena. Shan completed education from Royal College, Colombo. Then he graduated from the Faraday and North London Polytechnic Institute of Higher Education in England with the subject Television and Audio Engineering.

Shan has three younger brothers – Ranil Wickremesinghe, Niraj Wickremesinghe, Channa Wickremesinghe and one younger sister, Kshanika Wickremesinghe. His uncle Lakshman Wickremasinghe was the former Bishop of Kurunegala.

His brother Ranil served as Prime Minister in three terms: from 1993 to 1994, from 2001 to 2004 and from 2015 to 2019. Ranil Wickremesinghe is married to Maitree Wickremasinghe, Sri Lankan academic and professor of English in 1994. Shan's sister Kshanika is the Legal Director of TNL. Brother Niraj is the Chairman of TNL Radio. The youngest brother Channa runs "Varna" Printing Press in Ratmalana.

Shan is married and the couple has one daughter, Ishini. However, ITN was able to provide its broadcasting services under the leadership of Shan only for eight weeks, where President Jayewardene’s Government converted ITN to a State owned property on June 5, 1979 by a special gazette.

Later, Shan established TNL TV on 21 June 1993. TNL became the first private television broadcaster in Sri Lanka. In 1970, Shan launched a record production company called "Sangeetha" where the first disc was made for Gypsies Sunil Perera. He also produced discs under the Surya label.

In 2018, Polgahawela Broadcasting Center of TNL has been suspended by Telecommunications Regulatory Commission (TRC) due to broadcasting without obtaining a Frequency License since 2013. It was further stated that the location license and antenna pattern license have not been obtained for that.