SOME SORT of consolidation is taking place at Zee TV. It is being promoted as part of the Zee Network along with ZeeCinema and ELTV pretty aggressively these days. The intention is to insulate Zee TV from attacks from Sony and HomeTV and use the two fledgling Subhash Chandra-Rupert Murdoch promoted channels to fight them. Advertising rates on Zee TV are unlikely to be increased, so goes one view in the industry. But rates on ZeeCinema and ELTV have already been dropped to wage the battle aggressively with the two foreign-company-promoted-deep-pocketed Hindi channels "" Sony and HomeTV.
The feeling among industry veterans is that Zee TV will move more towards a Mastermind (a la Times of India) strategy, offering alluring packages on the other two channels on its network if an advertiser opts for Zee TV as his main vehicle or the lower rates on Zee TV if the advertiser plumps for EL TV and Zee Cinema. Ambience Space Sellers (its marketing wing) head Meenakshi Madhvani believes the market has matured enough to offer sophisticated packages to clients. Clearly, the market leader amongst private satellite channels is not going to yield ground easily.
