ITV

Category: Regional

  • Deepti Sivan appointed as Zee Malayalam business head

    Deepti Sivan appointed as Zee Malayalam business head

    MUMBAI: Zee Entertainment Enterprises (Zee) is all set to launch its Malayalam entertainment channel after successfully establishing itself in Tamil, Telugu and Kannada markets of the South region. The channel is already on a roll and has roped in Deepti Sivan as business head. A source close to the development confirmed the news to Indiantelevision.com.

    Sivan comes from a family of creative professionals and has done many challenging assignments in radio, television and film industry in a career spanning around 20 years.

    Zee Malayalam is in the process of finalising its content line-up for the launch and has already acquired the satellite rights of recently launched Malayalam movies such as Hey Jude, Aadu 2 and Diwanjimoola Grand Prix. At present, the channel is negotiating with many upcoming movie titles.

    Sivan has graduated in law and with an MBA in entrepreneurship and has donned many hats such as director, producer, production designer and station director of a radio station to a channel head at a television network. Her forte is media strategy, idea generation, content development, brand identity and expansion.

    Prior to joining Zee Malayalam, Sivan was associated with Tripod Entertainment as executive producer. She was the channel head of the Sun Network’s Malayalam GEC Surya TV for two years. At Red FM, she played the role of regional station director for all stations across Kerala for more than three years.

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    Zee Café’s new Rated ‘H’ shows to captivate millennials (updated)

    Zee promotes freeing of its channels on UK’s Sky TV

  • BARC segments viewership data for South regional news from GECs

    BARC segments viewership data for South regional news from GECs

    BENGALURU: Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) has started putting out viewership data for news channels in the four Southern languages of India – Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam, besides data for the other channels starting from week 1 of 2018 (Saturday, 30 December 2017 to Friday 5 June 2018) in the public domain. This was long due, considering the fact that some of the channels, more so the top five channels of each language, have higher viewership than the combined all India viewership of the top five English news channels, notwithstanding the differing demographics. The regional space has a large number of channels catering to various tastes in the local lingo that include GEC, news, sports, kids, etc. With so much of clutter, advertisers can now make an enlightened decision about where to air their message in a particular regional news market.

    Earlier, BARC used to furnish data for all the regional channel genres under one head – top five channels for the regional language. There are more than five news channels each for all the four Southern languages. Many of the channels are parts of larger national level media networks/groups/publications. The demographics for Southern news channels are the urban and rural areas in the prime territory/ies for that language and cover all individuals of 2+ age. In the case of Hindi news channels, where BRAC provides data segregated into (Urban + Rural); (Rural) and (urban), the demographics are all 15+ individuals in the respective Hindi Speaking Market or HSM.  In the case of English news, BARC provides data for All India (U+R) Males 22+ individuals.

    So which are the news channels that have made it to the top five in each of languages in week 1 of 2018?

    Tamil News

    Let’s start with the Tamil language – The area covered is urban and rural Tamil Nadu/Pondicherry. In week 1 of 2017, Polimer News was ranked first in the Tamil news genre with 37.359 million weekly impressions, followed by Puthiya Thalaimurai with 35.691 million weekly impressions at second place. Thanthi TV was ranked third with 32.647 million weekly impressions followed by News 7 Tamil at fourth place with 22.454 million weekly impressions. At fifth place was the Sun Network’s Sun News with 18.836 million weekly impressions.

    Telugu News

    The area covered by BARC data is the urban and rural regions of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.

    TV9 Telugu headed the Telugu news genre with 52.188 million weekly impressions, followed by NTV Telugu with 41.893 million weekly impressions at second rank. TV 5 News was ranked third in week 1 of 2018 with 35.934 million weekly impressions, followed by ABN Andhra Jyothi at fourth place with 34.642 million weekly impressions. Completing the quintet was V6 News with 30.557 million weekly impressions.

    Kannada News

    The area covered is Karnataka.

    TV9 Kannada headed the top five Kannada news channels list in week 1 of 2017 with 63.623 million weekly impressions. Public TV was ranked second with 43.828 million weekly impressions. Suvarna News 24×7 was ranked third with 22.286 million impressions followed by News 18 Kannada with 16.477 million weekly impressions. At fifth place was BTV News with 11.799 million weekly impressions.

    Malayalam News

    The market is the Kerala market.

    Asianet News was ranked one in week 1 of 2018 with 31.953 tmillion weekly impressions. Malayalam Manorama’s news channel – Manorama News was ranked second with 15.861 million weekly impressions followed by Mathrubhumi News with 11.515 million weekly impressions at third place. At fourth and fifth places were News 18 Kerala and Media One TV with 6.181 million weekly impressions and 4.249 million weekly impressions.

    Also Read:  Zee Anmol leads Hindi GEC (U+R) in BARC week 1 2018

    Four Star India channels among top 10 channels across genres

    Republic TV, Aaj Tak continue to lead genres as news viewership falls

  • Masterpieces of marathi content all day now with launch of Tata Sky marathi cinema

    Masterpieces of marathi content all day now with launch of Tata Sky marathi cinema

    MUMBAI: Lovers of Marathi cinema can now join the greatest celebration of the genre at the touch of a button with the launch of Tata Sky Marathi Cinema, a new service bringing the finest in Marathi movies, songs and plays to subscribers of India’s leading content distribution platform. In the launch film, the celebrated actor Swwapnil Joshi adds light on the irreplaceable treasures of Marathi Cinema that will be available on the service.

    The service, launched in partnership with Shemaroo, will give subscribers access to more than 120 films, 500 songs and the best in Marathi theatre. Viewers will be able to watch as many as three movies a day apart from access to plenty of ad-free content including comedy special and trailers. This makes the 24×7 Tata Sky Marathi Cinema service the best Marathi ad-free cinema experience on a DTH platform with a world television premiere every Sunday.

    Tata Sky at Chief Content Officer, Arun Unni said at the launch, “Tata Sky Marathi Cinema, like Tata Sky Bangla Cinema and Tata Sky Punjab De Rang, is a reaffirmation of our belief that there is considerable demand and interest for a good regional cinema experience – high quality movies and plays in a convenient ad-free format. Marathi Cinema is currently amid a resurgence, appreciated not just by Marathi speakers but by cinema lovers across the country. This product is our way of engaging lovers of iconic Marathi masterpieces.”

    Shemaroo Entertainment Limited – Director, Hiren Gada added, “Shemaroo Entertainment is pleased to associate with Tata Sky and bring the finest of marathi films, songs and theatre on Tata Sky Marathi Cinema. The service will be fueled by Shemaroo’s exhaustive and eclectic library of content and programming expertise. Our endeavour has always been to add value to our business partners and boost their offerings with our content prowess. With strong, bold, wide content and scaled production values, Marathi cinema has not just managed to grow in the recent past but also break the regional shackles and create a buzz amongst cinema lovers.  We are confident that the audiences will enjoy this new offering.”

    Tata Sky Marathi Cinema will showcase latest hits such as Paisa Paisa (2016), Cindrella (2015), Bus Stop (2017), Katti Batti (2015) and many others. The service will also feature popular plays such as Lahanpan Dega Deva, Me Nathuram Godse Boltoy, Lageraho Rajabhaiya, Usna Navra and Kanekari. The service will be available 24×7 on service number #1205.

    Tata Sky has an array of movie services such as Tata Sky Bollywood Premiere, Tata Sky Classic Cinema, Tata Sky Punjab De Rang, Tata Sky Bangla Cinema, Tata Sky World Series and Tata Sky Mumbai Film Festival.

  • Marathi GECs see a surge in viewership

    Marathi GECs see a surge in viewership

    MUMBAI: In an era when Hindi and English GECs are favoured by the audiences, good times are seen to be rolling for Marathi channels as there has been a gradual increase in viewership for the genre in the past eight weeks. According to the Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) data, the Marathi GEC genre has grown by 145 per cent in viewership during the period thanks to substantial numbers in week 50 of 2017.

    Marathi GEC genre has surprisingly turned out some of the most viewed channels in the television space during this time. In week 41 in 2015, the genre had registered 242 million impressions, whereas in week 50 of 2017, the viewership has grown by 145 per cent to touch 594 million Impressions.

    The growth is driven by viewers in Maharashtra and Goa’s rural areas spread across 10-75 lakh towns. Of the total Marathi GEC genre, these states’ urban sector contributes to 57 per cent of viewership, while rural contributes to 43 per cent.

    Rural viewership has grown by 203 per cent from 91 million impressions in week 41 of 2015 to 277 million impressions in week 50 of 2017, whereas there has been a growth of 156 per cent in the urban viewership.

    Now the question arises, what worked in week 50 with Marathi GECs genre?

    According to BARC data, Zee Marathi channel had a special event telecasted Zee Marathi Disha on Sunday which garnered 1609 impression (000s) sum, pulling up the slot by 30 per cent as compared to week 49.  

    Colors Marathi network had also aired a special event Shindeshahi Bana on Sunday which garnered 1.47 million impressions, thus improving the viewership by 27 per cent. Zee Yuva had a double premiere ofBoyz on Sunday which garnered 2.74 million impressions in total. The first airing pulled up the slot by six times whereas the second show pulled it up by 2.6 times as compared to week 49.

    Star Pravah has been operating at a higher level post week 48 which is majorly because of the new show Nakalat Saare Ghadle launched in week 48 and the already existing show Goth.

    The emergence of Marathi GECs genre in week 50 with a gradual boost in its viewership has left everyone surprised. The growth of the rural sector has added wings to the Marathi genre to fly high. Whether it sustains the momentum in the next week and year it highly awaited.

    Also Read:

    BARC week 7: Fakt Marathi makes maiden entry in Top 5 Marathi channels list

    Zee Marathi achieves 1 year of consistent leadership

  • COLORS Bangla explores the beauty of sibling bonds through its latest offering – ‘SUBHO DRISHTI’

    COLORS Bangla explores the beauty of sibling bonds through its latest offering – ‘SUBHO DRISHTI’

    MUMBAI: Bring in the new year celebrations with Abir, Drishti, Subho and Antara in ‘Subho Drishti’, as they share with you their happiness and felicity on COLORS Bangla. Adding to its elaborate line-up of shows, COLORS Bangla will kick off 2018 in style with a captivating drama Subho Drishti – a bitter sweet tale about sibling revelry that premiers on Monday, January 1, airing Monday to Sunday at 7:30pm. A riveting story, a stellar cast and the spellbinding script will make for complete entertainment experience for the viewers of the show.

    Following the journeys of two pairs of siblings – Abir-Drishti and Subho-Antara, the show encapsulates their intertwined destines as Drishti and Subho cross paths time and again leading to series of explosive coincidences and happenstances. Their story doesn’t seem to have a happy beginning nor a happy ending when the protagonists must face many trials and tribulations from the most unexpected avenues, as the twists in their story promises to take you on an eventful ride.

    Ecstatic on the launch of the extravagant drama, Colors Bangla and Colors Odia, Business Head – Rahul Chakravarti said, “At COLORS Bangla we are always looking to entertain our viewers with unparalleled content that has the potential to make their time spent watching worthwhile. With Subho Drishti we are celebrating the new year with a very unconventional romantic-drama, that promises to encapsulate viewers’ attention through a vivid storyline set against a backdrop of love and family ties. This visual extravaganza is an unique collaboration of stalwarts from the television industry and we are excited to bring the best of family entertainment to our viewers.”

    Produced by Vandana Films, Subho Drishti will see Aishwariya Sen (Drishti) and Gourab Roy Choudhary (Subho) play the lead roles. Recreating the magic of the silver screen, the sweetheart couple of Tollywood Rituparna Sengupta and Prasenjit Chatterjee will be seen together for the first time on television. Adding to the charm of the show, the soulful music will be scored by the award-winning film music-director Anupam Roy, who marks his television debut with Subho Drishti, while the vibrant and grand sets have been designed by Shyam Dey.

  • Zee Telugu gears up for an action-packed finale of Drama Juniors Season 2

    Zee Telugu gears up for an action-packed finale of Drama Juniors Season 2

    MUMBAI: After weeks of nail biting competition and some powerpacked performances by the contestants, Zee Telugu’s premier kids talent based show Drama Juniors Season 2 has reached its last leg. With the Grand Finale fast approaching, audiences have been waiting with bated breath to see which much deserving contestant will win the title and emerge as the winner of Drama Juniors Season 2. The kids are all set to mesmerise audiences on Saturday, 30th December 2017 at 8.00 PM on Zee Telugu.

    Drama Juniors Season 2 features an esteemed panel of judges including Anasuya Bharadwaj, Ali and Omkar, while it is hosted by the multitalented anchor Pradeep Machiraju. Over the past few weeks, the show’s contestants have left audiences across regions spellbound with their power-packed performances. It has proven to be extremely difficult for the judges to make their decisions as the contestants’ creativity, spontaneity and acting capabilities have wowed them along the way. Drama Juniors Season 2 has heightened the celebratory emotion and expectations from the contestants as they charge towards the finale as all their performances till date have kept viewers glued to their television sets.

    The power-packed evening featured a series of performances by Zee Telugu’s talent pool and the all-time favourite kids. Viewers of Zee Telugu from around the world will have the pleasure of witnessing the young superstars battling to win-over the judges.

  • Zee Tamil’s Sa Re Ga Ma Pa spread a festive cheer amongst the children of Andhra Mahila Sabha – IPD Orthopaedic Centre

    Zee Tamil’s Sa Re Ga Ma Pa spread a festive cheer amongst the children of Andhra Mahila Sabha – IPD Orthopaedic Centre

    MUMBAI: Adding to the spirit of sharing and joy associated with Christmas, leading Tamil GEC, Zee Tamil organised a special musical extravaganza for the differently abled students of the Andhra Mahila Sabha’s IPD Orthopaedic Centre. At the helm of the day of music and festivities were the contestants of Zee Tamil’s widely popular singing reality show, Sa Re Ga Ma Pa. The event was specially organised for the children at the centre to bring in some cheer and festive fervour prior to the commencement of the school’s vacations.

    The celebrations began with smiles and laughter as the host of the show – Archana Chandoke spoke about the power of music to Connect hearts while transcending the boundaries of language and speech. During the celebrations, Archana also interacted with the children and introduced the various contestants of the show who enchanted the children with their mesmerising performances.

    The highlight of the day was the special musical performances that was put together by the contestants who sang renditions of popular Tamil songs that lifted the overall mood. The act also brought a sense of enthusiasm among the children and left them grooving and humming to the songs.

    Commenting on the occasion, a channel spokesperson said, “At Zee Tamil, we are constantly looking forward to bringing about a beautiful change in the society by engaging with our audiences and playing a role in contributing to their joy and happiness – onscreen and off-screen. Our hearty gratitude to the management of the Andhra Mahila Sabha for hosting us and giving us the opportunity to rejoice in the company of these young hearts.”

    Adding further, Archana Chandoke, the host of Sa Re Ga Ma Pa said, “It has truly been a heart-warming experience for the all of us to engage and spend time with the children here and also spread the magic of music. The whole event has been a wonderful lesson on gratefulness and an encouragement for all of us to play a role to do our bit for the society. The memories that we have gathered today are sure to last us for a lifetime.”

    Sa Re Ga Ma Pa, which is aired on weekends on Zee Tamil and Zee Tamil HD is judged by an esteemed panel of judges including playback singer and music composer Vijay Prakash, popular playback singer Karthik and evergreen playback singer Srinivas.

    The day ended on a happy note with the students joining the contestants to cut a celebratory cake, followed by a distribution of sweets and photo session with Sa Re Ga Ma Pa’s erstwhile contestants.

  • KCBL to launch Malayalam GEC in March 2018

    KCBL to launch Malayalam GEC in March 2018

    MUMBAI: Keralavision Channel Broadcast Limited (KCBL) is all set to launch a new Malayalam satellite general entertainment channel Kerala Vision Digital. Testing began on 1 November 2017 while the commercial launch of the same is planned by end of March 2018 for the free-to-air (FTA) channel.

    Praveen Mohan is the chairman of KCBL and Raj mohan Mambra is the managing director(MD).

    Talking to Indiantelevision.com, Kerala Communicators Cable Limited (KCCL) CEO Shaaji Mathews said, ” The normal composition of this regional channel will include current affair bulletins also apart from movies, serials events, game shows and such gec content. The serials and family drama will be totally different from the current trend of glamorous hind content being dubbed into regional languages. We will emphasise on traditions, culture, family values and original talent. Further Our current affairs will be very local and relevant to the state . The channel will also cover the local Kerala events.”

    “We have tied up with some of the operators in other states to reach the Malayalam audience. There is a large number of people with roots in kerala and residing in other states and metros”, said Mathews.

    KCBL and KCCL are the two public limited companies incorporated and formed under the initiative Cable Operators Association (COA).

    COA was formed because Cable TV networks emerged in various parts of Kerala in the early 1990s as ventures of self-employment by the youth. As the cable TV industry was entering a high-growth stage nationally and networks with massive capital investment appeared on the scene, FTA channels began turning into pay channels.

    This phenomenon posed a stiff threat to the small local neighbourhood networks. It was in such a scenario that a fellowship of cable operators calling itself the Cable Operators’ Association was born. It has been functioning with remarkable foresight in the consolidating the base of small networks and helping them pool valuable resources.

    Intelsat 17 satellite is being used for the testing of the channel.

  • World television premiere of Maragadha Naanayam on Zee Tamil

    World television premiere of Maragadha Naanayam on Zee Tamil

    MUMBAI: Zee Tamil announced the world television premiere of critically acclaimed Maragadha Naanayam – the fantasy-comedy-thriller film that features Aadhi Pinisetty and Nikki Galrani on Sunday, 17 December at 4:00 PM only on Zee Tamil. Written and directed by ARK Saravan, the movie is a perfect blend of suspense, comedy and drama and is sure to give the viewers the perfect dose of entertainment for the weekend.

    The story of Maragadha Naanayam unfolds as two small-time smugglers played by Aadhi and Daniel Pope steal a highly valuable emerald artifact that is believed to be cursed. In order to safeguard themselves from an evil spirit to whom the relic belongs, they are forced to seek the help of three friendly ghosts who help them in uplifting the curse. The surprise element of the film lies in the role played by Nikki Galrani that manages to capture the hearts and mind of the audiences. The other cast members of the rib tickling comedy film include Munishkanth Ramdoss, Daniel, Anand Raj, Mime Gopi and MS Bhaskar who add on to the entertainment value of the film.

    The film also showcases the mesmerizing cinematography by PV Shankar and melodious music by Dhibu Ninan Thomas.

  • Judges take the stage in Zee Kannada’s Drama Juniors – Season 2

    Judges take the stage in Zee Kannada’s Drama Juniors – Season 2

    Bengaluru, 22 November 2017: This weekend is going to extra special for Zee Kannada viewers! For the first time ever, the judges panel including Mukhyamantri Chandru, Actress Lakshmi and Actor Vijay Raghavendra and show host Master Anand are all set to perform along with the little stars of Drama Juniors Season 2 this weekend in a two-part special episode. Tune-in to the show this Saturday and Sunday at 9.00 PM as the participating children get a chance to share the stage with these legends from Kannada theatre and Sandalwood industry. 

    The special episode will have a total of four acts:

    Portraying a good relationship between a mother-in-law and a daughter-in-law, Actress Lakshmi and participant Vamsi will enact various scenes of every day life.

    The nephew of veteran Kannada actor Dr. Rajkumar and a child artist himself, Vijay Raghavendra will bring alive memories of his uncle on-stage in an act from Bhaktha Ambarisha. Vijay will play the role of Bhaktha Ambarisha himself and participants Preetham, Viksha and Amit will play other notable characters from the film.

    Famous for his lead role in the popular Kannada play, Mukhyamantri, actor Chandru plays the role of the ‘Mukhyamantri’ yet again with participants Shraviya, Sumit, Alap and Shreesha.

    Master Anand, known for his witty sense of humour, will be enacting a scene from the Kannada film – ‘Kirik Party’, along with participants Alap, Anoop and Harsha.

    Commenting on the episode, Director Sharannayya said, “This season of Zee Kannada Drama Juniors is special in many ways. With special emphasis on the Kannada Children’s Theatre, we have been able to incorporate renowned Kannada scripts such as the life stories of poets KS Narasimhaswamy and Da Ra Bendre. In addition, to ensure that our participants gain experience in acting, we have also included different styles and genres of theatre including Doddata, a folk performance tradition that is over 200 years old. We have also successfully brought in the element of international theatre where transliterated acts of Romeo and Juliet and The Caucasian Chalk Circle. We are quite excited to be putting together a special episode on Drama Juniors for all our Zee Kannada viewers and we are certain that our young superstars will steal the show as always.”