Punit Goenka recently took over as the CEO of Zee Entertainment Enterprises, the TV entertainment company set up by his father, Subhash Chandra. Goenka fields questions from Ashish Sinha on his new role.
What is your mandate?
My mandate is to make Zee a world-class organisation and a leader in the media and entertainment genre. We do not want to be seen only as a television company.
What are your priorities?
The priority for Zee will be to add to the movie business. We will also foray into the children’s genre – content creation, licensing and merchandising — within the domain of television.
We are also looking at the production of niche and genre-specific content. We will be the number one name or a strong number two in all categories.
More From This Section
What are the specific projects to be launched soon?
I have got the approval of the Zee board to launch a dedicated golf channel called TEN Golf, from the TEN Sports family. It will be launched in the next 60-90 days. What about a kids channel?
That is one of the priority areas for us.
What kind of films will you make?
We have the approval for $200 million to be spent over the next three years on the movie business. However, the capital structure is not final. Going to the Alternative Investment Market of London is an option. There are already 8-9 films under production.
Why does Zee TV continue to lag behind others?
You will see a lot of new programming initiatives on Zee TV. I confess, some of the earlier programming initiatives like the Rock-N-Roll Family did not get the desired ratings.
The hugely popular Saregamapa is back on Zee Tv. We are excited about it. Then we have launched a new serial called Waaris, which is expected to do well for us.