 "Aditya Pittie joins Epic as director")
History and mythology entertainment channel Epic has got on board Aditya Pittie of Pittie Group as director. He will lead the day-to-day operations of the linear television channel, focusing on all the commercial functions of revenues and costs. Founder and existing head Mahesh Samat will continue to be on the board of the company and will focus on the strategic and business development areas of the company with a focus on digital and non-linear opportunities.
Epic was launched in 2014 and has investments from Mukesh Ambani and Anand Mahindra. The company has close to 500 hours of unique and original content in Indian history, folklore and mythology. The platform used to showcase the content so far has been the linear television format. However, the landscape of video streaming is changing dramatically due to the increase in mobile Internet users which is expected to reach to 792 million users by 2018. Realising this represents a huge opportunity to showcase content to the urban viewer, the channel made its content available on Netflix since June 2016.
Pittie was the CEO of Pune based Pittie group. He has had extensive experience in real estate, media and FMCG, having worked on Sanskar TV in the past and recently launched a bouquet of channels under the 'Shubh' brand. He has also worked with Patanjali consumer products being its distributor.
Pittie said, "EPIC is a strong brand in the television space and it's an honour for me to lead the team and fulfill its legacy. In this phase of the company, we will focus on monetisation and work with our customers very closely to help brands and businesses achieve their goals through unique partnerships, while continuing to grow EPIC"s viewership."
Samat said, "Aditya will bring in a fresh energy and a new impetus behind EPIC. As the channel moves from the first phase of launch to the next phase of consolidation and monetisation, we need leadership that will take EPIC to this next key step of its long-term journey. With his drive, focus and result-orientation, Aditya is uniquely qualified to lead the linear television business into the future."
He added, "Digital is the most significant opportunity for content creators and EPIC is uniquely positioned to take advantage of this opportunity with its strong and distinctive content. With the app and other syndication opportunities, we expect this to be a strong part of the business model in the coming years."