Behind this move is an expectation that the movie channel genre would further grow in viewership this year.

"While there was a 12 to 13 per cent increase in the audience share last year among all movie channels, the advertising revenue grew by only five to six per cent. The audience share is expected to grow by 25 to 30 per cent this year. Naturally, we sense a huge scope for growth on the ad revenue front," says Ranga.

Advertisers aren't fully convinced, though. Mediaedge: cia (Mumbai) GM Manas Misra feels that effecting such a huge hike would be a Herculean task for Zee Cinema because of the intense competition the genre is facing. "With the type of competition going on in the market place, this may not be an easy task for Zee Cinema. Obviously, it is leading in the genre. But at the same time, its competitors are also doing well," he opines.

Ranga admits the task is to convince the advertisers. "They have a mindset issue. We have to convince the planners also. The whole process will take some time to complete," he says.

Zee Cinema had brought a 30 per cent hike in its ad rates early this year. But the channel feels that it deserves a bigger increment. "That time, we didn't increase the rates the way we should have. Zee Cinema, being the number one Hindi movie channel, deserves much more than what it is now getting. It is not an irrational price level we are looking at. I feel that a 100 per cent hike is justifiable," says Ranga.

According to Ranga, Zee Cinema has been the number two revenue earner for Zee Network last fiscal, behind the flagship channel Zee TV. "Last fiscal, our ad revenues went up by 45 per cent while viewership recorded a 15 per cent increase," he claims.