National Geographic's thirst for expansion continues

After taking a block on the Star Plus channel for airing its programme and after starting a seven hour daily Hindi feed on its own channel, the National Geographic Channel will now be looking other ways to increase its reach in the country.

To begin with, the channel is in talks with several regional channels to carry a one hour regional language block on the regional channels. It can be noted that the channel has already started a few India specific programmes on its. But these programmes won't exceed 20% of the total content on the channel.

Also the channel is in talks with its parent company, National Geographic Society to get in its merchandising in India. The merchandising includes the hugely popular National Geographic Society magazines, which the group is considering to re-print in India. But all this will take at least two years.

The channel is also embarking on a aggressive promotional campaign, both on air and and off air.

It can be noted that the channel has always been proactive in increasing its reach and penetration in the country. Even when the channel was launched, it had sold the digital receivers costing Rs 31,000 at Rs 12,000 to the cable operators. An estimated 1,000 receivers were given away at the subsidised rates. But once the channel reached a sizable penetration, the subsidies were done away with.

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