Walt Disney upbeat on its 24-hour Telugu kids channel

Kids in Andhra Pradesh now do not have to pacify their television entertainment needs with content that is not actually made for people their age.

For global kids and family entertainment brand, Walt Disney Television International, has launched a 24-hour kids channel that is completely in Telugu.

The new channel, that comes under the Toon Disney banner was launched along with similar ones in Tamil and in English on December 17, 2004, and according to Rajat Jain, managing director of Walt Disney Television International (India), the channel is already available in the city.

"Less than 10 per cent of the television content that kids watch today is actually made for them. So we have launched this channel for kids in Andhra, in their own language," Jain said at a press conference in the city, to announce the launch of the channel.

Toon Disney has dubbed 1,800 half-hour episodes in Telugu for the first year. The programming content includes Disney Classics like Mickey Mouse and Friends, animated feature films like Alladin, contemporary content in the form of Kim Possible and action and adventure series branded as Jetix in the form of programmes like Power Rangers and Fantastic Four.

"Although we have taken all global content, we are not ruling out taking local content for future programmes," Jain said.

"At present, all our programmes are being dubbed by a subsidiary company called Disney Character Voices, based out of Hong Kong," he added.

Incidentally, the channel is now also working on launching a 24-hour Hindi Toon Disney channel that is most likely to be on air in October. "India is a priority market for Walt Disney and we are working on tapping the market in the best possible way"" Jain said.

"That is why, India is the first market in the Asia Pacific region, where Toon Disney has been launched," he added.

"Our income from the channel will be through advertisements and subscriptions. For advertisements, we already have got a good response from companies like Pepsi and Kelloggs," Jain said. The channel comes at a subscription rate of Rs 12 per month.