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Discovery Communications India has entered the Hindi entertainment space, with the launch of its ID, or Investigation Discovery, channel. It has launched high definition (HD) variants of its channels: TLC HD World and Animal Planet HD World, taking its channel portfolio in India to 11.
ID is available across the country on analogue and digital networks, including Hathway (channel number 24), SITI Cable Network (127) and DishTV (128). The channel will offer stories of crime and suspense.
Among the series that will premiere on ID is Who The (Bleep) Did I Marry?. It narrates stories of married couples where one spouse has hidden a secret. Another Disappeared follows the unpredictable twists of missing-person cases and tracks probes aimed at solving how and why people simply vanish. Evil-in-Law will show how marriages are nearly ruined when a meddling mother-in-law oversteps her bounds and Blood Relatives will probe homespun murder mysteries where everyone is a suspect and every suspect shares a last name.
Rahul Johri, executive vice-president and general manager (South Asia), Discovery Networks Asia-Pacific, and head of revenue, pan-regional ad sales and Southeast Asia, said ID was a hit in the US and one of its fastest-growing channels. Internal research had shown the channel had potential in the country.
The channel’s American predecessor was launched in 2008 when the network was in the process of rebranding and positioning one of its existing channels Discovery Times, drawing 80,000 viewers a day and was subscribed to by less than 60 million homes.
