MUMBAI: SaharaOne‘s world television channel Firangi, which would air international content from across the globe, has made the best out of its visit to Mipcom.
According to the channel‘s business head Rajeev Chakrabarti, the channel has acquired a whopping 2,000 hours of content, thus completing its first phase of acquisitions.
“We were clearly the largest Indian buyers at Mipcom. On board we have about 2,000 hours of content, which will take care of approximately a year‘s programming needs,” says Chakrabarti.
The acquired content library is across a variety of genres. “We have acquired short series primarily action thrillers, dramas, romantic comedies, telenovelas from regions like Europe, US, Latin America. There is however, no Asian content yet,” says Chakrabarti.
The channel has tied up with about eight content providers worldwide. “When we conceived Firangi in June, we got in touch with international content providers and had been reviewing a host of content for the channel. Mipcom, essentially was an event for us to close our deals,” he says.
Elaborating on the target audience for the channel, he says, “Our research across ten Indian cities has showed that there is large audience base, which is young in mind and waiting to see different cultures, locales, international fashion. They are waiting to consume content within their boundaries of sensibility as long as they can watch it together with their family.”
Firangi will further acquire more content through international trade events like America Film Market, MipTV amongst others. The channel is slated to go on air this year.
