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Tag: Alpha Marathi

  • Alpha’s Apna awards to heighten viewer loyalty

    Alpha’s Apna awards to heighten viewer loyalty

    NEW DELHI: The countrys first private regional language channel in non-southern states of India, Alpha Marathi, turns five on 15 August and wants to celebrate in style by adopting the triple A or the Apna Alpha Awards.
     

    The triple A is a concept that seeks to further increase interactivity between the channel and its viewers who get to vote their favourite serials, actors etc on this Marathi language channel, which has claimed that in terms of TRPs, it runs neck and neck with Star Plus.

    We conceived the Apna Alpha Award event not only to celebrate completion of five years, but also reward our viewers and involve them more in the functioning of the channel, Alpha Marathi channel Nitin Vaidya says.

    A gala event, after the whole voting process is over, would be held in Mumbai on 11 August and televised on Alpha Marathi on 15 August. On the same day, names of 10 winning families will be announced and will be crowned the Alpha Marathi families. These families will get surprise gift hampers and recognition from the channel.

     

    Alpha Marathi business head Nitin Vaidya
    Pointing out that Alpha Marathi has become a household name not only in Maharashtra, but also in Marathi speaking pockets of India, Vaidya says the channel caters to almost six million cable and satellite homes in Maharashtra only.

    Zee Telefilms Ltd, which owns the Alpha Marathi channel and brand, does see an opportunity in Triple A as it could be built up into a big TV event, something to the effect that Star India has done with Star Parivaar Awards on Star Plus.

    Though Vaidya is loathe to admit that his brain-child has resemblance to a rivals product, he does admit with candour that there are plans to make the Triple A event an annual feature from this year, which would be promoted and televised in a big way.

    For this year, we are positioning the awards as a mini general elections as it is appropriately placed after the Lok Sabha (parliamentary) elections and before the state assembly elections in Maharashtra, Vaidya said.

    Though a primary part of the promotional activities would be on-air, some on-ground initiatives too have been lined up, all of which would start in about 10 days. Apart from Mumbai, on-ground promotional activities would be held in most other cities in the state with population of over a million.

    There are three ways by which viewers can vote — through physical ballot papers that will be available at the all the 1,000 Playwin counters and through cable operators (900 head ends in Maharashtra would be used for this); through SMS on 7575 and through IVRS (interactive voice recording system).

    Close to 10 lakh ballot papers will be available for the viewers,  Vaidya said, adding that producers of programmes on Alpha Marathi have been mobilised to create awareness about their respective programmes amongst their viewer segment.

    What would be the budget of an event like this be? Vaidya goes mum on this, preferring to say that considering that other award shows like Alpha Gaurav draw good attention and recognition for advertisers from viewers, Apna Alpha Award too will be another step in the same direction. We are in the process of tying up sponsors, he adds.

    Would the triple A event deliver the TV ratings for Alpha Marathi? One would have to wait and see.

  • Zee’s search for ‘India’s best’ comes to ‘city of dreams’

    Zee’s search for ‘India’s best’ comes to ‘city of dreams’

    MUMBAI: “We have a thriving film industry, but of late there isn’t any fresh talent coming in, this is our way of getting in some,” offered Zee Telefilms CMD Subhash Chandra about his flagship channel’s latest initiative – India’s Best Cinestar Ki Khoj.

    While magnanimously calling the event a “team” effort, Chandra also opined that the current film fraternity has been giving a lot of stock performances (Shahrukh Khan are you listening?) and being a film producer themselves, Zee TV’s parent Essel Group needed to take stock of it.

    On a surprise visit to the auditions location at SNDT grounds in Mumbai, Chandra was checking out the turnout and auditioning process. While speaking to indiantelevision.com, he did mention that he was happy with the turnout and some of the talent on show.

    Though the talent hunt was aimed at discovering “personalities”, the dearth of good lookers stuck out like a sore thumb. But there were quite a few exceptional talents that outshone the rest, which prompted the management to institute a couple of “brilliant” performance certificates. “If we get an Om Puri or a Nasserudin Shah caliber talent, we are not going to shove them aside just because they don’t fare well in the looks department,” offered one of the jury members Kishor Namit Kapoor.

    As regards today’s turnout, by the end of the day’s proceedings 3,000 contestants had auditioned. The Zee team is expecting at least 5,000 tomorrow.

    “Mera Number Kab Aayega”: Participants waiting patiently for their turn
    Said, Zee TV president Sunil Khanna, “The turnout is better than expected. Plus it is just the first day of the event. In fact, looking at the (quality of) talent we are planning to upscale the finalist numbers.”

    When quizzed about reports that Lucknow had far more to offer by way of talent, he said, “We knew what to expect in Mumbai, so there is not much of a surprise here. But our event is not about launching talent from big cities. It is about tapping the hidden talent in the far flung towns across the country.” And it is not just for the movies that some of the chosen ones will be taken. “We will be looking at handpicking a few for our serials as well,” said Khanna.

    Queried as to how the whole thing would translate when telecast on TV, Khanna offered, “It is a good concept and it is not just about a reality or a talent hunt. So we are quite optimistic.”

    While the talent on show might not have impressed indiantelevision.com, the way the event was managed definitely deserved a thumbs up. Nowhere did the crowd seem unruly or restless.

    The on-ground in-charge, Alpha Marathi Sr veep Nitin Vaidya offered, “I have been working hands on with the event. Everyone in the team has had their task explained well. Also we haven’t really spared any cost.”

    Backed by a huge promotional blitz, the ambitious endeavour has many firsts to boast of — like the simultaneous four-city auditions and the innovative promotions. Ultimately though, the real test will be whether television audiences give Cinestar Ki Khoj an “India’s Best” TRP rating.

  • Zee fixes rates for DTO bouquet

    Zee fixes rates for DTO bouquet

    Zee Telefilms Limited (ZTL) has fixed up rates for their upcoming Direct-to-Operator (DTO) package which will be unveiled somewhere between 15 May, 2000 to 15 June, 2000.

    For a seven channel package (Zee Movies, Zee English, Zee Movies, Alpha Marathi, Alpha Gujrathi, Alpha Punjabi and Alpha Bengali), ZTL has decided to charge Rs 11.50 per subscriber. However, Zee is offering different rates for various subscriber slabs.

    For a subscriber base of under 500 cable homes, Zee will charge Rs 11.50 per subscriber. For 501-2500, 2501-10,000 and 10,001 homes onwards, the price will be reduced by 50 paise each.

    Other packages are also fixed up for combination of different channels. Zee will charge Rs 11 for a four channel package of Zee English, Zee Movies, Zee Cinema and any Alpha channel. The package consisting of Zee Movies, Zee English and Zee Cinema will be priced at Rs 10 while Zee Cinema and any Alpha channel would be priced at Rs 8.00.

    The individual pricing of the channels from the Zee bouquet is:
    Zee Cinema at Rs 6, Zee Movies at Rs 5 and Zee English, Alpha Marathi, Alpha Gujrathi, Alpha Punjabi, Alpha Bengali at RS 4 each.

    Zee TV, Zee News and Music Asia will, however, remain free-to-air.

  • “Focus will be on fiction programmes on TV this year” : Anshumaan Swami – Applause Entertainment CEO

    “Focus will be on fiction programmes on TV this year” : Anshumaan Swami – Applause Entertainment CEO

    The company turns one, a week from now. The applause, however, is yet to make itself heard. 37-year-old Anshumaan Swami, the CEO of Applause Entertainment, however, is in no hurry. The assurance that the accolades and bouquets will follow surrounds him like a halo. For the present, this former advertising professional is living a busy schedule, exacting his meticulously picked team to come up with the right script, the perfect event and backing the best project….

    While feature films, regional and Hindi, have kept the Kumarmangalam Birla backed venture in the spotlight for the year gone by, Swami promises that the year ahead will have Applause devoted to television in a big way.

    The projects have already been finalised, and the first quarter of the new fiscal should see a couple of shows seeing the light of day on leading mainstream channels. In a freewheeling interview with indiantelevision.com's Aparna Joshi, Swami gives the impression that the media industry is just getting ready for Applause….

    Applause Entertainment's one year of existence has been a quiet one, except for the release of a regional feature film. For the team, how has the first year been?
    Although we launched officially on 13 April 2003, we began technically in January last year. I started with just small bunch of clerical staff, did a lot of head hunting for people for nearly six months before starting work in earnest.

    In the meanwhile, we also bought the rights of a movie from the UK called Anita and Me. We released the film here with the objective of announcing to the industry that we are here to do business. Our objective was to entrench ourselves well into this market which is very quicksandish in nature. You see, the TV sector is fairly far more organised than the feature film industry… there are a lot of people here who promise far more than what is actually delivered!

    We also had a lot of research to back us up. We have a strategy cell which had conducted a study for the last two to three years, which told us this (films and television) was a business avenue that we should try and explore. Essentially, Applause came into being with a focus on television and not too many films, but with the thought that if there was a good project coming, we would take it up.

    We started with Bollywood Tonight on Zee Cinema, which has been running for one year and four months. Most of the staff of 38 in this office is involved with Bollywood Tonight – it's something that keeps all of us together. Next came the spiritual programme Urja on Zee TV, as well as the Good Health Show every Sunday.

    So, you have actually been making more TV shows than feature films, though the movies are the ones that are more apparent.
    We have 11 programmes on air now, four of which are for a channel in Singapore.

    Our Marathi programme on Alpha Marathi (Vaadalvaat), one on Vijay called Bhairavi are channel drivers. Purely keeping with the constitution of the company, I have tried to do some regional, some overseas work, but remember, we started from scratch.

    The first Hindi feature film project we took up was Dev. I essentially like to work with people who have a good corporate understanding. I met Manmohan Shetty of Adlabs, who was working on this project called Dev. I liked the idea of working with him, and after the initial project study we decided to take the plunge.

    With Sanjay Leela Bhansali it took six to eight months to decide that we would do Black.

    "Govindji (Nihalani) is doing an out and out commercial film (Dev) for the first time, and more than me, it's he who will be doing the marketing of this film"
    Govind Nihalini and Amitabh Bachchan on the sets of Dev

    But the first film to come out of the Applause stable has been a regional one.
    We did one film in Telugu, which is yes, officially, the first film to come out of Applause. It was scheduled to release last June, but something or the other kept pushing the launch date till January this year. Consequently, it was delayed by seven or eight months, largely due to the fact that we didn't know the language.

    I can't say we have been very successful on this one, but we have already started work on the second film in Telugu, as now we have both a feel of the audience as well as the market. The Telugu film Tapana was a small budget film. We are now also exploring the possibility of getting into the Bengali market, purely for the love of cinema in that language.

    Was that also the reason you launched in the Telugu market first?
    No, that was because my marketing team had done an exhaustive survey of the markets and found broad indicators that we could target that market successfully. We have now made one digital film in Bengali that's meant for the festival circuit, but we would also like to get into commercial Bengali cinema. You see, you cannot rush into a feature filmmaking venture. There's so much excitement and power that draws you, but you cannot afford to get blinded by it. You have to be a good batsman and judge that not every ball is meant to be hit.

    So, what's on Applause's plate currently?
    We are working on scripts of two more Hindi feature films (after the Nihalani directed Dev and the Bhansali directed Black), where we would be playing the role of 'pro-active producer'. This term, employed in the US, implies companies getting the script together, calling for a director, actors and putting it all together.

    Of course, I may not be able to do my proposed Bengali film pro-actively, there we will be talking to established as well as new directors.

    What is the Applause vision for the next few years?
    You see, the film industry is like the fashion industry where the variables change very fast. It is not the same in the television industry though – it has its paces, regulations and formulae put into place.

    What we target is two or three films per year. One regional film per year, definitely, subject to all the variables involved.


    A still from the Telugu film Tapana

    		 "I can't say we have been very successful on this one, but we have already started work on the second film in Telugu, as now we have both, a feel of the audience as well as the market"

    Will these be big budget or small budget films?
    Whatever the scripts demand, the budgets will be allocated accordingly.

    Do you also set timetables for the shooting, post production and ensure that the film is released within a set period?
    The time taken to decide on projects takes six to eight months for us. You have to sweat it out on the table, rather than sweat it out on the sets, that's what we believe. We have tried to put in as many stages as possible without hampering the creativity of the project. We have tried to put systems in place, by which we don't waste too much time in the studios.

    Budgets have to be controlled. We had an accident on the Black sets, but in two weeks' time, we were back on shoot, all because of planning and the man hours spent here and there to put it all in place.

    People may say corporates are cold and calculating. But before we start making the film, we even plan the marketing of the film so that it turns out a cohesive effort.

    What are the innovative marketing techniques you plan to employ for your feature films?
    Apart from in film placements, we are essentially looking at developing scripts that have inbuilt in film placements. When I talk of marketing a film, I am basically talking about positioning. You cannot make a film, I believe you have to make an audience for it first. You have to work the logistics backwards – if it's a multiplex film, think how many shows the film can run on the 100 screens in 35 multiplexes in the country. Accordingly, a certain number of prints have to be brought out. This is what should determine a film's budget.

    Govindji (Nihalani) is doing an out and out commercial film (Dev) for the first time, and more than me, it's he who will be doing the marketing of this film. I could tell you about the promotions of Black in some months' time, when the film is ready for release.

    Applause started with the intention of getting into television. What's new on that front now?
    We have submitted proposals to three leading channels and in the forthcoming year, we are hopeful of having at least three to four programmes on air, all fiction. We will also be concentrating a little bit more on the overseas market. I have a team that will be working on various channels across the world.

    We are trying to understand their needs and how we can meet those…like The History Channel, for example. But that's a relatively slow process and I don't see us moving very fast on that one.

    We are also interested in the Gujarati television space, but we are also clear that we don't want to get into commissioned programmes, as on the Sun Network.

    Is there also anything new you are trying out on television this year?
    The focus and concentration will be on fiction programmes this year. We would rather deliver products that stand out than go in for quantity.

    We have a long way to go on television. What we are looking for is slots and solutions for various channels. We have been monitoring various channels – timings and TRPs of various shows. We are now trying to see if we can offer our suggestions and remedies for shows that could be taking a dip in ratings.

    Are the broadcasters responding favourably to this innovative offer?
    It depends on which broadcaster we are talking to, essentially.
     

    "We are hopeful of having at least three to four programmes on air, all fiction"

     

    You have also spoken of getting into educational programming?
    Yes, we do plan to get into that. Not necessarily infotainment, as that can get preachy. You see, television is going to play a very important role in the coming days. We must come up with programmes which motivate, guide and bring about a feeling of patriotism, not just impart classroom education. The pulse polio campaign featuring Amitabh Bachchan is a good example of this kind of effective communication.
  • Alpha Marathi bags 12 awards at ‘Maharashtra Times Sanman’ awards

    Alpha Marathi bags 12 awards at ‘Maharashtra Times Sanman’ awards

    MUMBAI : The Zee Network’s regional language channel Alpha Marathi has bagged 12 awards at the prestigious ‘Maharashtra Times Sanman’.

    Alpha Marathi received 30 nominations in 14 categories. The most popular series ‘Vadalvaat ” received 6 awards from 10 nominations, that of best series and the best title song, in addition to T. Ramraj Naidu for best editing, Pushpang Gawade and Naresh Desai for the best camera work, Abhay Paranjpe for best screenplay and Arun Nalavde as the best actor. The best actress went to Suhita Thatte for ‘Megh Datale’.’Nakshratranche Dene’ won 2 awards, the best concept in non-fiction and the best non-fiction programme. ‘Campus A Fair war’ received 2 awards, the best youth programme and the best male compere Jitendra Joshi. The best female compere went to Rani Gunaji for ‘Manasi Tumchya Ghari’.

    Speaking on winning the awards at ‘Maharashtra Times Sanman’, Sr. Vice President,Alpha Marathi, Nitin Vaidya, said “I thank Maharashtra Times and our audience once again for voting for the shows on ‘Alpha Marathi’ channel for the prestigious ‘Maharashtra Times Sanman’ Awards’. We have always been a leader in the providing quality programming to our viewers since the time of our launch, our programming strategy have also focused on the shows, which can relate to our audience.”

  • Attackers’ butt of ire continues undeterred on Alpha Marathi

    MUMBAI: Political satire Ghadlay Bighadlay, which allegedly provoked NCP party workers into storming the Zee office yesterday, continues to air.
    Undeterred, Alpha Marathi, the Zee channel that telecasts the show, will focus tonight’s epiosode on yesterday’s incident. “We are a news channel, just like any other media company our duty is to report and we will continue to do that. People cannot get away with taking the press rights from the media,” says Essel Group’s vice-president, corporate brand development (CBDG) Ashish Kaul.
    Says Kaul, “We aired it yesterday as well and will continue with it. Like every other programme on the channel, we have an internal screening process, which is more than enough.” Alpha Marathi business head, who rushed back to Mumbai from Kolhapur yesterday, after hearing about the ransacking, says spoofs on television should be taken in the right spirit, as did the others who were satirised in the same episode.
    “Political satires have been on screen for a long time now. Does the attack mean that you have to chuck the satire genre altogether?” Kaul queries.
    As for the damage incurred at the Chintamani Plaza offices of Zee, the valuers have already made an assessment of the damage, and the financial estimate of the loss should be available later today. Kaul says the guard who was hospitalised yesterday after he suffered injuries during the ransacking has been declared out of danger; another staffer Carol D’souza is now recuperating at home. As for the rest of Zee staffers, it’s work as usual today.
    Meanwhile, the Indian Broadcasting Foundation has condemned the attack on the staff and office of Zee TV, saying it is an attack on the freedom of expression.
    “All the political parties need to appreciate the gravity of such unruly, undemocratic and rowdy behaviour by a group of people, allegedly supporters of a political party. We demand that exemplary punishment be meted out to these people both by the law of the land and the concerned political party so that such shameful incidents do not recur,” the IBF says in a release.

  • Alpha Marathi acquires cache of NFDC films

    MUMBAI: With a clutch of prize NFDC-produced feature films in its kitty, Alpha Marathi is set to launch a six month long film festival in Mumbai theatres.
    The films, which include the Jabbar Patel directed Ek Hota Vidushak, the critically acclaimed Doghi directed by Sumitra Bhave, Not Only Mrs Raut, Mukta and Amol Palekar’s Bangarwadi, will be telecast on the channel after a few screenings at the Essel promoted Fun Republic. The theatre screenings will be attended by the producers, directors and artistes of the films as well as by film critics, and the resultant discussions over the film will be aired on the channel later. According to Alpha Marathi head Nitin Vaidya, the films will be run in the theatre for some days, depending on viewer response.
    Alpha Marathi has initially received favourable response with its innovative Nakshatranche Dene, a regular ground event showcasing literary talent, which is subsequently aired on the channel. The film festival of acclaimed new Marathi films follows the same strategy, with the intention of exciting viewer curiosity with the theatre screenings. The festival will kick off with EK Hota Vidushak, the last film to be scripted by noted literateur P L Deshpande before his death, and directed by eminenet filmmaker Jabbar Patel. 
    While the cost of acquiring this valuable cache from the NFDC library is not known, the films are targeted at the SEC A and B demographic, which rates these thought provoking films highly, but is unable to watch them in theatres, which are finding Marathi films an increasinly unviable proposition. 
    Among the films acquired by Alpha in the first phase are Mukta, the Jayoo and Nachiket Patwardhan directed  and Limited Manuski as well as and Atyachar.

  • Eternal Dreams to serve cookery course show on Alpha Marathi

    Eternal Dreams to serve cookery course show on Alpha Marathi

    MUMBAI: Eternal Dreams, the company that tried to turn the now defunct Tara Marathi’s fortunes around with a women-based distance education show, is now bringing the same show to Alpha Marathi.

    The company, launched by Sapana Chaturvedi, has struck a deal with the Zee Group’s Marathi front-runner Alpha Marathi to air the show on weekdays.

    The show has been reshot and redesigned for Alpha but the basic content, which had several SEC B women participating in the initial run on Tara Marathi, will remain the same.

    The course is likely to be telecast from next month and will air from Mondays to Thursdays between 12 and 12:30 pm, with repeat telecasts from Tuesdays to Fridays at 9 am. Eternal Dreams will be handling the marketing of the show as well.

    The show works like this. Viewers can enroll for the course by paying a fee of Rs 895, in return for which they get a kit and study material. Rs 200 is the fees for examinations at the end of the course which will be held by the IHM at their colleges in Mumbai, Pune and Goa. The television courses, says Eternal Dreams CEO Bonnie Jain, are at par with the IHM-certified course in cookery and bakery taught at the premier hospitality institute.

    This IHM Certificate course had earlier resurrected the comatose Tara Marathi, founded by Rathikant Basu’s Broadcast Worldwide, and given a semblance of respectability to the channel’s ratings. It was aired in the channel as a daily show.

    The initial success of the show, which awarded a certificate to participant viewers at the end of the course, spurred Eternal Dreams to launch a Hindi version at prime time on Tara. But the channel closed a year ago, dampening the dreams of the production house, which had by then, taken over the entire running of Tara Marathi.

  • Alpha Marathi rides on event based shows

    MUMBAI: Not serials and not news. It is event based shows that is helping catapult Alpha Marathi, the regional offering from the Zee family, among the top watched channels in Maharashtra.
    Combining ground events and public ceremonies into televised attractions, the channel is striking the right chord with Maharashtrian viewers, and now boasts GRPs of 174, ahead of ETV Marathi’s GRP of 145 and DD10 Sahyadri’s 108 (all day GRPs, all Maharashtra, for week ended 30 August) in the crucial TG of females 15 plus, SEC ABC. 
    The channel’s live coverage of the Janmashtami celebrations in the state as well as the Ganesh festival featured among the top 10 shows on Marathi channels, recently. The Alpha Mahakarandak, a one-act drama competition for colleges has spawned interest in the channel in various towns in Maharashtra. Also, the show Campus – a fair war, based on the drama festival figures in the top 10 shows for Marathi channels, pulling in TVRs of over four, a good score for a regional channel. 
    Nivdak Pu La, an old show telecast on Doordarshan a decade ago, topped the ratings stakes some weeks ago for Alpha with a TVR of 4.12. Although business head Nitin Vaidya is loath to admit as much, Alpha Marathi’s viewership in some timebands is behind only that of Star Plus and Sony in Maharashtra, and ahead of flagship channel Zee TV.
    The rising popularity of shows like Nakshatranche Dene (poetry reading sessions attended by celebrities), soaps like Wadalvaat and Avantika and the regional news capsules has Alpha Marathi delivering 51 per cent viewership from SEC A and B, says a beaming Vaidya, quoting TAM statistics. The return of Zee to TAM data could not have come at a luckier time for Alpha, when the figures supplied by the rating agency help it to assert its status among the three contenders – DD’s Sahyadri, ETV Marathi and Alpha itself. 
    Vaidya now has his sights set on luring in the advertiser with some hard facts. Apart from planning a first time outdoor campaign in the state to build brand awareness, the channel is targeting media planners and ad agencies with statistics of huge citizen participation in its ground ventures which it says, translates into viewership. Retail advertising is flowing in to the channel, courtesy local businesses, which understand the pulse of the local viewer. 
    While retail is equally important for the channel, it is the big business the channel is now targeting, bolstered as it is with a solid viewer base and TAM figures. While Mumbai and bigger cities continue to be Alpha Marathi’s strongholds, the ground events are now an effort to penetrate into the smaller towns, where ETV remains a close second in C&S homes.

  • 4-yr-old Alpha Marathi to emphasise on news, current affairs

    MUMBAI: Alpha Marathi, the pioneer in Marathi satellite television, has embarked on its fifth year of existence with a renewed emphasis on news and current affairs.
    The channel, which celebrated its fourth anniversary on 15 August, is well on its way to capitalize on the advantages of local uplinking from Noida.
    Alpha aims to launch news bulletins and current affairs shows within the next two months, with its network of correspondents roped in from all corners of the state to make programming more interactive.
    While DD-Sahyadri continues to maintain its dominance among the local players, Alpha Marathi business head Nitin Vaidya claims that several of their shows that have achieved cult status among Maharastrians have helped the channel become number one in the state.
    TAM figures indicate that in the past few weeks, Alpha has been stealing the show with an average of 30 of the top 50 shows.
    Properties like Abhal Maaya (one of the first lot of 14 original shows launched on the channel in late 1999) and Avantika (an adaptation of a Marathi novel), Vadalwaat and Jagawegli have touched a chord with native audiences which had been hungering for authentic Marathi fare.
    Following the success of Hello Sakhi (an interactive phone-in show with experts roped in ) mooted by DD Mumbai station director Mukesh Sharma over a year ago, Alpha too has jumped into the fray with Namaskar Alpha. The channel’s advantage — its toll free number as well as the correspondents from major cities chipping during the show.
    It helps to have the Zee News infrastructure and staff network handy. Vaidya claimed, the second edition of the Namaskar Alpha on 2 May, featuring veteran actor Dilip Prabhavalkar, had one lakh viewers trying to call in with their questions.
    Now, Vaidya intends to push the envelope in current affairs shows, knowing the Maharashtrian appetite for news. From May, the 7 am news bulletin has already gone live, helped along by a four MBPS line to Noida. The 10 am bulletin and the hourly news updates are to follow suit shortly.
    Zee News’ OB vans are to be employed extensively in the state to strengthen news coverage. Like the recent festival of Ashadhi Ekadashi which was covered live from Pandharpur, Alpha intends to go live to prominent pandals in Mumbai for Ganesh festival, enabling ‘remote darshan’ for the devout.
    The channel will also see celebrities appearing on current affairs shows, answering questions by prominent editors and journalists from six centres across the state, making for what Vaidya terms ‘virtual press conferences’.
    On ground initiatives like the Alpha Mahakarandak , an intercollegiate one-act drama competition, the continuing Alpha Gaurav Puraskar for felicitating excellence in theatre and films, and the Ganeshotsav Pandal competitions have all earned brownie points for the channel, both in terms of reach and awareness but also advertising support.
    A slew of local and retail advertising, contributing to nearly 50 per cent of the total bulk by rough estimates, is now apparent on the channel after the changed RBI guidelines. Vaidya says the channel creates ads for advertisers like coaching classes, educational institutions and assorted book publishers and jewelers, apart from accepting advertisements from established but local entities like DSK builders in Pune, Waman Hari Pethe jewelers in Mumbai and Rajmal Lakhichand jewelers in Pune.
    Events like the Mahakarandak aimed at collegians and the Gaurav Puraskar offer a distinct target audience for the advertiser to focus on, says Vaidya. Last year’s Alpha Gaurav Puraskar telecast secured the channel share of 85 per cent among Marathi channels and a 22 per cent share among all channels in Maharashtra.
    But Vaidya, who has been with the channel since its inception, has also risked unusual programming like Nakshatryanche Dene, a poetry reading evening show that targets the classes and Pimpal Paan, a series of adapted novels.
    Advertising support has been slow on these new initiatives, but the channel’s aim is now to cut the clutter on the more popular shows and even out the inventory.
    To add to its 250 film strong library, Alpha Marathi now intends to commence airing a two-act professional play on weekends, guaranteed to appeal to the Marathi taste for theatre. Says Vaidya, “For the first time since DD Mumbai gave way to national programming, Alpha has broken the Maharashtrians’ habit of not being able to watch Marathi shows at prime time, and did it successfully.
    With Prabhat TV and Tara Marathi having bowed out of the race, Alpha now has only ETV Marathi (which is prized for its hourly news and some quality soaps) and the formidable Sahyadri to contend with.