The Zee Network, which runs the Zee family of channels, is foraying into the print media with the launch of a film magazine christened Cine Zee.
The magazine will be launched in August 1998, sources at Zee Network said. There will also be a TV and Internet edition of the magazine. Rauf Ahmed, former editor of the Times of India group-owned publication, Filmfare and the Indian Express-group owned Screen, has already been roped in as consulting editor.
Cine Zee will be a premium product directed at the higher end of the market and will be priced higher than other film glossies. Bharat Kumar Raut, spokesperson for the Zee group and a veteran journalist, will handle the publishing.
It is reliably learnt that the magazine is being launched to bolster the clout of Zee Cine awards which was instituted in 1998. The idea, said Raut, is to bring out a serious publication. It will contain the entire gamut of information about films like reviews, interviews and features. "We are taking the film industry very seriously after the industry status accorded to it by the union government," Raut added.
The magazine will also contain trade related information. It solely plans to focus on business information and is unlikely to carry gossip on filmstars. Prominent people in the media industry have cautiously welcomed Zee's proposed foray. The editor of Screen, Udaya Tara Nayar, feels that there is definitely space for another serious film publication.
"How the magazine fares will depend upon its contents. Screen itself is a serious publication and is doing quite well," she pointed out. Film magazines, in general, are doing well although they have lost a little ground in the face of the satellite invasion. "Film magazines are still considered important in industry circles. Besides, there is also a lot of public interest in film and TV stars," she added.
A senior executive of a rival satellite channel too feels that the proposed magazine can carve out a niche for itself. "If it lacks gossip about filmstars, it won't be able to tap the market catered to by Stardust, Cine Blitz and other glossies. However, it will be definitely well received by senior company executives interested in hard core information," he added.
Meanwhile, the Zee Network is concentrating on a major push in the European market. It has entered into a pact with Holland's largest cable company NV Caseme for distribution. NV Caseme, owned by French Telecom, has over one million viewers. Trial runs will begin in July and later on the coverage will be extended to France.
Zee has also signed an agreement with Deutsche Telecom for beaming in Germany. It is also negotiating with leading cable companies in Sweden.
So far, the Zee Network was being beamed in Europe through the DTH route. Now it is concentrating on extending the coverage through terrestrial distribution network as DTH operations reached only a limited number of the vast Asian population disbursed throughout Europe.
