GECs
New programming, production head for Raj TV
MUMBAI: Raj TV has roped in Tamil television programming veteran V Chandrasekhar to give it a new look. The Tamil general entertainment channel brought Chandrasekhar as executive vice president programming and production, a newly-created post.
Chandrasekhar is the former director, operations, of the K Balachander-headed production house Min Bimbangal.
Chandrasekhar says his effort will be to shape the content differently at Raj TV. “The shift in strategy is based on a market study we had conducted. The aim is to target niche Tamil markets. We will be launching more daily soaps in the May-June period,” he says.
Programming strategies will be revamped, says Chandrasekhar, as the channel will be experimenting with new time bands. The channel is reserving its evening prime time band – 7 PM to 10:30 PM – exclusively for soaps. To start with, Raj TV is launching a soap titled Mundani Mudichu in the first week of May for the 9 PM slot, replacing a film-based show.
“The new strategy is not about bringing in different programmes. It is about doing programmes differently. We want to bring a change in the area of production values, turnaround time, timeliness of the content and the kind of people it reaches out to,” he says.
During his 14-year stint with Min Bimbangal, Chandrasekhar has worked behind various successful projects. He was responsible for one of the Sun TV channel drivers Kayyalavu Manasu, almost 12 serials for Raj TV and then the Vijay TV reality show Kadhayalla Nijam.
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.
