mailtoviki
...Viki (a) PriYan...
Zee News Ltd launches Tamil channel Zee Tamizh
Monday - Oct 13, 2008 Televisionpoint.com Correspondent | Chennai
Zee News Ltd, part of Essel Group, has expanded its southern television offering, with the launch of an Tamil entertainment channel called Zee Tamizh on October 12. The new regional venture is Zee's thirty-third channel in India and third in the South India, after Zee Telugu and Zee Kannada.
Speaking to Televisionpoint.com, G Ramprasad, chief executive officer, Zee Entertainment - South, said, "We have invested close to Rs 100 crore in the Tamil venture, most of which has gone into content procurement and acquisition of movies. Tamil Nadu is one of the biggest media markets as it accounts for 8 per cent of the national advertising space."
Zee Tamizh will break even in three years, and has a mix of fiction and format shows. The channel has lined up mega serials, game and reality shows, music programmes and cultural shows.
The most attractive one being the Rudra show, in which actress Khushboo plays the lead protagonist of lawyer. Music composer Shanker's son Shri, and Cheenu who comes to Tamil television with Rudra, are the heroes in this show.
Then there is a Tamil version of hit musical reality show Sa Re Ga Ma Pa. The Tamil avatar sounds very unique, as it boosts of Zee Telugu's and Zee Kannada's Sa Re Ga Ma Pa winners to sing Tamil songs.
Zee Tamizh also has an kids dance show called D For Dance, which is the Tamil adapt ion of Chota Packet Bada Dhamaka currently being aired on Zee TV. The Tamil version has popular child artists from films and television paired together, who are contestants of various other reality shows.
V Chandrasekaar, senior vice-president and business head, Zee Tamizh, tells Televisionpoint.com that, "there will be also three news bulletins in a day, and it will be a complete entertainment channel. We have a good library of movies and the broadcasting rights of 40 per cent of the Tamil films released this year so far had been secured by us."
Speaking about the marketing of the channel, Chandrasekaar says, "We have spent around Rs 5 crore for initial promotion and are planning to spend even more for further reach. We have used about 100 bus shelters in Chennai and have branded about 100 luxury buses in the city. We have also spent heavily on the radio medium, and did an print media innovation with The Hindu newspaper."
On October 12, Zee Tamizh had booked a jacket dummy cover on the The Hindu and some other leading regional vernacular papers. "The launch campaign required to make an impact with the cover pages. It was purposeful attempt to make the whole campaign look bigger than life." continues Chandrasekaar.
Zee Tamizh, a pay TV channel, is also available on Dish TV, the direct-to-home (DTH) arm of Essel group. The channel will be soon available on Arasu Cable Corporation and Sun Direct TV. And, Ramprasad says that talks with other multi-system operators for distribution are on.
The Tamil Nadu media industry is flooded with over twenty-five television channels in Tamil language. The market is presently dominated by Sun TV Network, which garnets a major chunk of the advertising revenues in South.
Monday - Oct 13, 2008 Televisionpoint.com Correspondent | Chennai
Zee News Ltd, part of Essel Group, has expanded its southern television offering, with the launch of an Tamil entertainment channel called Zee Tamizh on October 12. The new regional venture is Zee's thirty-third channel in India and third in the South India, after Zee Telugu and Zee Kannada.
Speaking to Televisionpoint.com, G Ramprasad, chief executive officer, Zee Entertainment - South, said, "We have invested close to Rs 100 crore in the Tamil venture, most of which has gone into content procurement and acquisition of movies. Tamil Nadu is one of the biggest media markets as it accounts for 8 per cent of the national advertising space."
Zee Tamizh will break even in three years, and has a mix of fiction and format shows. The channel has lined up mega serials, game and reality shows, music programmes and cultural shows.
The most attractive one being the Rudra show, in which actress Khushboo plays the lead protagonist of lawyer. Music composer Shanker's son Shri, and Cheenu who comes to Tamil television with Rudra, are the heroes in this show.
Then there is a Tamil version of hit musical reality show Sa Re Ga Ma Pa. The Tamil avatar sounds very unique, as it boosts of Zee Telugu's and Zee Kannada's Sa Re Ga Ma Pa winners to sing Tamil songs.
Zee Tamizh also has an kids dance show called D For Dance, which is the Tamil adapt ion of Chota Packet Bada Dhamaka currently being aired on Zee TV. The Tamil version has popular child artists from films and television paired together, who are contestants of various other reality shows.
V Chandrasekaar, senior vice-president and business head, Zee Tamizh, tells Televisionpoint.com that, "there will be also three news bulletins in a day, and it will be a complete entertainment channel. We have a good library of movies and the broadcasting rights of 40 per cent of the Tamil films released this year so far had been secured by us."
Speaking about the marketing of the channel, Chandrasekaar says, "We have spent around Rs 5 crore for initial promotion and are planning to spend even more for further reach. We have used about 100 bus shelters in Chennai and have branded about 100 luxury buses in the city. We have also spent heavily on the radio medium, and did an print media innovation with The Hindu newspaper."
On October 12, Zee Tamizh had booked a jacket dummy cover on the The Hindu and some other leading regional vernacular papers. "The launch campaign required to make an impact with the cover pages. It was purposeful attempt to make the whole campaign look bigger than life." continues Chandrasekaar.
Zee Tamizh, a pay TV channel, is also available on Dish TV, the direct-to-home (DTH) arm of Essel group. The channel will be soon available on Arasu Cable Corporation and Sun Direct TV. And, Ramprasad says that talks with other multi-system operators for distribution are on.
The Tamil Nadu media industry is flooded with over twenty-five television channels in Tamil language. The market is presently dominated by Sun TV Network, which garnets a major chunk of the advertising revenues in South.