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Alpha Gujarati launched
The Zee Network launched the
fourth of its regional language channels - Alpha Gujarati
on 21 March. The launch took place at a bash attended by
the who's who of Gujarati language theatre, film and folk
art industry. The launch was done at the hands of the Hindi
and Gujarati theatre and film star Paresh Raval.
"It was the complaint of a woman when I was travelling
in the UK a few years ago that Zee TV does not air programmes
in Gujarati which got me interested in regional language
programming," says Zee Network chairman Subhash Chandra.
The channel is targeted at the
rich Gujarati community which has been served by state-owned
Doordarshan and the RITV owned Gurjari TV, now and then.
A programming formula similar to that used on Zee TV is
being used with Alpha Gujarati: women's oriented series,
family dramas, sitcoms, music shows and participatory game
shows.
The Zee Network looks likely to have a potential leader
of its Alpha series of channels in Alpha Gujarati.
Reason: it has the inhouse distribution advantage thanks
to its ownership of its MSO Siticable. Second Gujarat is
a very strong cable and satellite market. And extremely
rich. Consumers today are willing to spend on flashy goodies
with little restraint.Also Gujarat has a gaggle of entreprenuers
who will use the channel to reach consumers if they are
made to believe and understand that they are getting a good
deal.And with a targeted audience for the channel they will
undoubtedly be interested in even taking up commercial air
time.
Meanwhile, Zee is looking ahead at launching channels in
the four southern regional languages. Among these: a Telegu
channel, a Tamil service, a Kannada service and a Malaylam
channel.
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