Zee Tele launches Zee Kannada

Zee Telefilms has firmed up major plans to enter the already crowded South Indian TV industry in a big way over the next year.

Exactly twelve months after launching the Zee Telugu channel, the Zee Group today announced the commencement of operations of Zee Kannada. It will be available through the cable network. It is the 27th TV channel to come out of the Zee stable.

The Zee Group has evolved a strategy to take the dominant Sun Group. "South India is a very critical market for us. It accounts for 45% of the national market share. Of this, Telugu and Tamil languages account for nearly 25%," Zee South Channels business head Ajay Kumar said.

He said Zee Malayalam and Zee Tamil channels will go on air in the coming months. "We will launch Zee Malayalam very soon. Geographically, the Malayalam viewership might appear small, but we are looking at the expatriates. Keralites are spread all over the world and our aim is to include them under our viewership. The Zee Tamil channel will be our last major foray in the South," he added.

Zee Kannada is the seventh Kannada satellite channel. Though Zee had a presence in the Kannada TV industry through its earlier venture, Kaveri channel, it had to be wound up. "That was a joint venture project and we had to pull out because of various reasons. Zee Kannada channel is an independent channel completely belonging to the Zee Group. It will be a pay channel right from day one," Punit Goenka, director of Zee Telefilms, said.

He said the channel would reach 6 million households in Karnataka. "The advertisement revenue from the Kannada TV industry is estimated to be Rs 180 crore annually, and we are aiming for all of it," he added.