MUMBAI: Zee Marathi is expanding its news segment as part of its plans to revamp the channel. Close on the heels of introducing a fresh channel ID, Zee Marathi has added two more news bulletins and spruced up its infrastructure.

"The growing importance of news has inspired us to carry out these initiatives. We want to tap this market more seriously. On the other hand, we are localising our news content. While national news channels are concentrating on certain sections such as Bollywood and Sports, we are concentrating on providing news that is relevant to the local viewer," says Zee Marathi head, Nitin Vaidya.

Zee Marathi's news segment Zee Batmya has been renamed as Zee News Marathi as part of the revamp. The two new, half-an-hour news bulletins, which occupy the time slots 5 pm and 12 am, have replaced re-run soaps. The channel will also be launching an afternoon news bulletin for women shortly.

The channel has also re-packaged its existing news bulletins at 7 am, 7 pm and 10:30 pm. The news slots have been given specific names as they target different viewer segments. The 10:30 pm bulletin, which offers Mumbai news, has been named Mumbai Dinaang. The 7 pm news bulletin, which targets the whole of Maharashtra is called Ajcha Maharashtra while the 12 am bulletin is known as Zero Hour.

To improve the coverage quality, the channel has spruced up its infrastructure. Seven cities of Maharashtra are now connected live to Mumbai apart from extending the coverage to neighbouring Goa. Zee Marathi has also set up regional studios in five cities: Nagpur, Pune, Aurangabad, Nasik and Kolhapur.

In September, Zee had given a facelift to the Marathi channel by introducing a new channel ID as well as a new logo to the news segment Zee News Marathi. The ID has been created by the Singapore-based design studio, Brand Speed. The re-branding exercises also included setting up a fresh news set, designed by Bollywood set designer Nitin Desai."The new channel ID offers vibrant colours and a contemporary look. We wanted to blend local themes with international design," explains Vaidya.