GECs
Chandra calls for liberal programming code
MUMBAI: Zee Telefilms chairman Subhash Chandra echoed Star TV CEO Michelle Guthrie’s sentiments when he too stressed that addressability will come about in India, but only through market forces.
Chandra, in his address at the valedictory session of Frames 2004, asked for a liberal programming code for channels, while also urging copyright protection laws. Chandra said his estimates for the media and entertainment sector in India are close to Rs 20,000 crore, a figure that differs substantially from the figure put out by the Ernst and Young report put out by Ficci on the first day of the convention. An additional Rs 20,000 crore will flow in if piracy is curbed, he said.
“Today television is the fourth necessity in this country after roti, kapda and makaan (food, clothing and shelter),” Chandra said. It is the unregulated nature of this industry that has taken the industry thus far, he said. The situation in India is quite different from the US, where the industry is far more tightly controlled that normally assumed.
GECs
Zee scales syndication with global tie-ups, 350 plus channel MCN
Vertical, dubbed and audio formats boost digital reach
MUMBAI: Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd. is giving its content library a fresh passport. The company has stepped up its syndication push, signing global partnerships, experimenting with new-age formats and building a multi-channel network that now spans more than 350 channels.
With the newly secured MCN licence, Zee can manage, distribute and monetise content across leading digital platforms at scale, strengthening its presence in the fast-growing creator and short-form ecosystem.
To keep pace with changing viewing habits, the company is also reshaping its content into formats built for the small screen in your hand. In a tie-up with micro-drama platform Story TV, select titles are being reworked into vertical, short-duration episodes tailored for mobile-first audiences.
Beyond India, the syndication team is widening its global footprint with foreign-language dubbing and regional partnerships across Europe, Africa and Latin America, opening up fresh markets for Indian stories.
Zee is also tapping into the audio boom. It has begun licensing audio remake rights for legacy properties such as Zee Horror Show, with several more titles lined up for audio-first adaptations.
On the digital front, the company has made progress in monetising non-exclusive rights for library films, while converting select shows and movies from horizontal to vertical formats to improve discoverability on short-form platforms.
Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd. business head syndication Vinod Johri, said syndication has emerged as a strong growth lever for the company. He noted that the combination of a large MCN network, global partnerships and new formats such as vertical video and audio is helping build a future-ready engine that extracts more value from the content library.
Together, these moves signal a platform-agnostic approach to storytelling, as Zee repackages, localises and redistributes its IP across geographies, formats and screens, ensuring its catalogue keeps working long after the first broadcast.
