ITV

Tag: Subhash Chandra

  • Zee Media to launch ‘I Am IN’

    Zee Media to launch ‘I Am IN’

    MUMBAI: Good governance begins with active citizens seeking accountability from their chosen representatives at every level – from the Parliament to the legislative assembly, from the local corporation to the graam panchayat.

    People who feel passionately about local issues and want to do something about it, then ‘I Am IN’ is a destination for you. ‘I Am IN – dna of India’ is a technology enabled initiative, that promises to enlighten, engage and empower citizens of India in getting involved in the cause for better governance. It gives power to the people to be vocal about local issues, to report news, connect with governance representatives and like-minded fellow citizens and more.

    ‘I Am IN’, is India‘s first multilingual, hyper-local, pan-India digital platform that encompasses – (over the next few months) – over 500 local circles and neighbourhoods across the country, enabling people to subscribe to and engage with, others in their locality.

    The digital platform aims at strengthening the DNA of India to influence better governance. People can join as either a volunteer for their locality / neighbourhood and be the face of the community, or be an active citizen by signing up, staying informed and helping the community find solutions to problems.

    The hunt to find volunteers for around 200 localities / neighborhoods that the platform is launching with, has already begun. Those interested need to give a citizen DNA test, prove why they deserve to be a volunteer and demonstrate the passion to be one.

    Zee Media chairman Subhash Chandra exults: “I believe in India, and I have faith in the ability of my fellow citizens to make India a better country. We keep complaining about India, we keep saying we don’t know what to do and how to do it. We try to look at the big picture, not realising that it is made up of smaller problems. Solve the smaller problems and the big problem will be solved.”

    He further goes on to say that the change in India has to be ground up, and what we aim to do is to empower and enable Indians to do just that. He adds: “Gandhiji said “be the change you want to see in society”, today with the launch of ‘I Am In – dna of India’ we hope that can be achieved, enabled by technology and powered by the desire of 1.2 billion plus Indians who want a better tomorrow.”

    Zee Media group CEO Bhaskar Das says: “Today, in India, we see a lot of energy. A desire to do ‘something’ more for the country’. If that energy is not tapped, that desire to do ‘something’ not see outcome – then it is easy to become despondent and negative. It is this spiral into negativity that needs to be avoided and it can be done by harnessing the power of good intention.”

    “‘I am IN – DNA of India’ is an initiative that taps into the desire of Indians across the length and breadth of the country who want to live in a better, cleaner, safer locality/neighbourhood.  The power of hundreds of hyper local networks, each made of thousands of people, all of who act in a focused manner to improve their locality can surely bring the much needed qualitative change in our country,” he rounds off.

  • ‘Buddha’: Zee’s Sunday treat for its viewers

    ‘Buddha’: Zee’s Sunday treat for its viewers

    MUMBAI: A lot has been written and spoken about ‘the enlightened one’ but this is the first time someone has attempted to capture his life on screen. ‘It was my vision to do a conceptualised show like this on Indian television’, says Spice Studios founder and chairman and also producer of the show Dr BK Modi.

    Come 8 September, Sunday mornings are going to be much more informative and educational where the viewers will be taken to the life and journey of Buddha every Sunday at 11:00 am. The series will be an hour long and replacing Ramayan, which unfortunately has not been getting good ratings.
    Bharat Kumar Ranga Ranga feels that the epic is not only meant for Indians or Indians living abroad, but it will also have an international appeal to it as well

    Zeel and Essel group chairman Subhash Chandra exults: “We have been working with many researchers and experts on the subject. We are delighted to partner with Spice Studios to present a new series which is never-before-seen biopic on television on the life of Buddha.”

    The channel feels that the show is going to create waves around the country since the life of the Buddha would be shown for the first time on Indian television. Told in 52 gripping episodes, the series will be an entertaining action drama that will showcase the unexplored life of Buddha as Siddhartha.

    It was always Modi’s desire to showcase the life of Buddha. It is interesting to note that this was supposed to be made into a feature film. Modi had begun work on a film based on the same subject with filmmakers Shekhar Kapur and Ashutosh Gowariker helming the research and script development and was also in talks with Hollywood’s renowned scribe David Wault. But he has finally chosen the small screen to fulfill his wishful endeavour.

    He clarifies: “There is a lot to show on this subject and it was not possible for it to wrap up in just three hours. The scope of television today is larger than films and we wanted Buddha’s story to unfold in all its splendour and reach out to the largest denominator of people possible. Only TV can give us that reach, especially Zee, with its international reach spanning over 169 countries.”

    Asking whether this attempt to revive the morning slot for weekend work with the audiences, a top-placed media planner on the basis on anonymity answers: “Apart from the 90s when Ramayan and Mahabharat worked, nothing has really clicked in the Sunday morning slot. Star tried to relive it by getting Satyamev Jayate and it did work for it. Apart from that the slot is not very attractive.”
    Dr BK Modi and Subhash Chandra want Buddha’s story to unfold in all its splendour and reach out to the largest denominator of people possible

    Further adding: “But since no one has tried with Budhdha earlier maybe it will attract some eyeballs. But overall it is the treatment which matters. Let’s wait and watch if it will be able to relive the slot.”

    But on the other hand, Modi is quite confident that the historic epic will entertain the viewers. And the audience will get to learn a lot and the show will be the reference point for researchers.

    Adds Modi: “Ramayan and Mahabharat gained huge success when it started, but audiences started losing interest from the time it was repeatedly made by different channels. If one show is made in a different way by different directors, it obviously loses its charm and uniqueness. The reason these shows are not working well today is because people have already had enough of it and have seen the same thing but in different avatars.”

    The magnum opus has an international appeal with its grand scale, opulent sets at the Film City spread over a sprawling four acre plot. The promos which are already on-air are quite impressive with state-of-art 3D graphics being used to re-create the look and feel of a bygone era. Moreover, well-researched costumes have been bought out of Jodhpur and Jaipur. Customised jewellery has been sourced from Patna and will bring alive the majestic lifestyles of the royal family of that time.

    It has been more than two months that the entire cast and crew has started shooting and approximately 15-20 episodes have been canned at the time of writing.

    The channel has roped in Syska LED as the presenting sponsor and is powered by Crystal. On the promotions side, the promos are already on the television screens and one can see them focusing and promoting on the OOH platform as well.

    To top it all, Zeel chief content and creative officer Bharat Kumar Ranga feels proud to come up with such a huge show. He says: “We have concentrated in capturing the life of Buddha and the transition from prince Siddhartha to Gautama Buddha. But the life itself provides such a great dramatic possibilities that we have realised there is one story which is untold in India and worldwide and many people do not know about it. Therefore this will capture the attention because there is a value in this particular proposition.”
    The ensemble cast of Buddha

    He further adds: “Many years of research work has gone behind this. We knew that internationally there will be a lot of misconceptions so therefore we thought of not focusing on Buddhism instead we focused only on the life of Buddha. A lot of investments has gone behind the extensive research.”

    Zee and Spice are leaving no stone unturned when it comes to perfection and showing people the facts. They also wrote to Buddhists communities across the world largely in Asia pacific, asking for their valuable inputs. “The idea was to pre-inform them, so if at all somebody has some inputs they can provide it to us; otherwise we have done our research very thoroughly. Modi’s team has done a great job ensuring that every single thing is presented correctly as possible and factually as possible”, says Ranga.

    Ranga also feels that it is not only meant for Indians or Indians living abroad, but it will have an international appeal to it as well.

    Amongst the cast, veteran actor Kabir Bedi will be seen making a comeback to acting after a long hiatus. Others on the list are Samir Dharmadhikari, Nigaar Khan, Deepak Upadhyay, Gungun Uprari and Siddhartha Vasudev.

    “It should set a benchmark for the people, a point of reference. Our expectations are that people should truly enjoy this. We believe that it will add a lot to people’s lives and it will be beyond those TVTs and viewerships”, Ranga signs off.
    Though the channel has not yet thrown any light on who will portray the character of ‘the enlightened one’. We hope this Buddha brings a smile to the channel and its viewers

  • Dish TV records 11.2% revenue growth for Q1-2014; higher Arpu’s, lower losses

    Dish TV records 11.2% revenue growth for Q1-2014; higher Arpu’s, lower losses

    BENGALURU: India’s largest DTH services provider Dish TV India Limited (Dish TV) reported first quarter fiscal 2014 standalone operating revenues of Rs 578.4 crore, recording 11.2 per cent growth over the Rs 519.95 crore operating revenues it clocked during Q1-2013. Also, its Q1-2014 standalone revenues were higher by 4.1 per cent than the Rs 555.4 crore the company reported for Q4-2013.

     

    Let’s take a look at the other figures for Q1-2014

     

    EBITDA of Rs 121.7 crore was lower by around 22 per cent for Q1-2014 as against EBITDA of Rs 156.6 crore the DTH provider reported for Q1-2013. EBITDA margin for Q1-2014 stood at 21 per cent. It had reported a 29.9 per cent margin for Q1-2013. However, Dish TV’s net loss was down to Rs 30.4 crore as compared to Rs 32.3 crore in the corresponding quarter last fiscal (Q1-2013) and Rs 43.6 crore in the previous quarter (Q4-2013).

     

    Dish TV’s primary expenses include cost of goods and services, personnel cost, administrative cost, advertisement expenses and selling expenses. Expenditure at Rs 456.7 crore was significantly higher by around 25 per cent than the Rs 364.4 crore the company reported for Q1-2013 and 4.9 per cent more than the Rs 435.4 crore it had reported for the previous quarter (Q4-2013).

     

    Dish TV’s advertising expenses for Q1-2014 at Rs 30.7 crore (which were 5.7 per cent of revenues of Q1-2104) were more than double (127.4 per cent higher) the Rs 13.5 crore during Q1-2013, and 84.9 per cent higher than Rs 16.6 crore during Q4-2013. It’s selling and distribution expenses during Q1-2014 at Rs 59.3 crore were also higher by 14.9 per cent than the Rs 51.6 crore during Q1-2013 and 2.9 per cent more than the Rs 57.6 crore in Q4-2103.

     

    Dish TV saw a gain of around two lakh in net number of subscriptions during Q1-2014. It had added 5.04 lakh subscriptions during Q1-2013. Subscription revenues for Q1-2014 were up 15.9 per cent at Rs 528 crore as compared to Rs 455.6 crore during Q1-2013 and higher by 5.6 per cent than the subscription revenues in Q4-2013.

     

    ARPU for the quarter increased 5.1 per cent to Rs 165 resulting in a 15.9 per cent y-o-y increase in subscription revenues. Dish TV reported a free cash flow of Rs 48.4 crore for Q1-2014 as compared with Rs 22 crore in Q4-2014 and Rs 65 crore for FY-2013.

     

    Dish TV chairman Subhash Chandra said, “In an ever changing world, the Indian media industry is keeping pace. Digitisation, which happens to be the most talked about, has still a lot to achieve even in the digitized towns and cities. Though it is comforting to see the evolution towards a transparent distribution environment, the distribution industry needs to act fast to leverage the opportunity to weed out the long standing inefficiencies in the system.”

     

    “Too much focus on box seeding has diluted the addressability part of the digitisation mandate. In such a scenario, Dish TV’s focus on quality additions is a counter-intuitive move which has started delivering encouraging results. The first quarter saw the company deliver strong free cash flows while maintaining healthy customer retention and investing in brand equity,” added Chandra.

     

    Dish TV managing director Jawahar Goel said, “In line with our expectations, pack price hikes and improved subscriber quality in the recent months resulted in a strengthened ARPU. On the expenses front, higher investment in marketing, brand building and seasonal sports driven content along with the impact of a weak rupee on dollar denominated costs, resulted in a sequentially flat EBITDA margin.”

     

    “We remain committed to add quality subscribers who would be value accretive to the business. Our successful initiation of a series of entry level price hikes, even in a not so perfect macro environment, demonstrate our pricing power and resolve to eliminate subsidies in the medium term. At the same time, we continue to expand our distribution network and consider ourselves amongst the best placed to reach out to customers who fit the bill. We are also making strong progress towards lining up additional transponder capacity to beef up our existing, industry leading bandwidth. We intend to leverage the additional capacity for distributing localised content as well as strengthen carriage revenues,” said Goel.

     

    Commenting on the persistent weakness in the rupee and its impact on the financials, Goel said, “A flagging rupee has been an industry wide concern since some time now. To contain further widening of gap between the cost of the consumer premises equipment (CPE) and amount realized from the customer due to rupee depreciation, Dish TV initiated an acquisition price hike of Rs 250 on 4th July. Sensing the need, other players in the DTH industry followed suit within the next few days.”

     

    “We are evaluating possibilities for improvement in hardware economics of CPE sourced from India, given a depreciating rupee. We have also been considering options with our overseas suppliers to commence production at a base in India,” he added.

     

    Talking about Dish TV’s overseas ventures, Goel confirmed, “Work on Dish TV Lanka (Pvt.) Limited, the company’s subsidiary, is progressing as per plan. Since it is going to be a zero subsidy model, it makes us all the more excited about the expansion.”

     

    With a sustained focus on strengthening the balance sheet, Dish TV says that it looks forward to retiring a significant portion of its outstanding debt. The company claims that it is well positioned, through its internal accruals, to repay approximately Rs 750 crore outstanding debt through the current fiscal.

  • Zee Media drives into Rajasthan

    Zee Media drives into Rajasthan

    MUMBAI: When Zee group chairman Subhash Chandra, launched India's first private Hindi general entertainment channel way back in the early nineties, he named it so because he wanted it to be the ultimate provider of entertainment to Indians the world over. Now the group is taking that vision a step further. 33 channels already under its belt and it is all set to add to that tally with a few new ones. Among the first of these is the regional offering: Zee Rajasthan Plus.

    CEO Alok Agrawal says that with the new venture, Zee is attempting to portray Rajasthan's rich culture on the channel

    The channel, which is under the umbrella of Zee Media Corporation Ltd (ZMCL), will have an equal balance of news and entertainment and is being bundled under something its CEO Alok Agrawal calls the "terrestrial entertainment network (TEN)."

    "Agreed, that the investment needed for it is going to be more than that needed for a general news channel," says Agrawal. "But it's something we believe has a lot of potential." Sources indicate that the Zee Media management has kept aside about Rs 15-20 crore per annum for the channel.

    Headquartered in Jaipur and headed by regional head Purushottam Vaishnav, it is targeting the Hindi speaking audiences in India with a programming mix in Hindi and Rajasthani dialects and is set for a launch on 31 July. With the slogan 'mera shaan mera abhimaan', the channel plans to integrate many genres in one channel with 'something for everyone.'

    Its entertainment offering will have both fiction and non-fiction shows touching on a bit of travel, automobile, real estate, shopping, food, and investments. Its news programming slate will have both half hour shows and smaller news bulletins covering regional, national and international developments and will be fed by news bureaus and news representatives and crews in almost all major Rajasthani cities (even at the block level). Its existing infrastructure for the various Zee News channels will, of course, be of great help.

    "Rajasthani people are very proud of their culture and we are going to reflect that in our channel," says Agrawal. Its target audience ranges from children to the elderly with specific shows for each during the day.

    The weekend will have more feature shows and a lunch time movie will be telecast which is either set in the state or about the local people. Additionally, popular shows from the Zee group's catalogue are to be be telecast for a few weeks but in due course, original commissioned and localised programming, keeping the state's vibrant culture in mind, will be added to the FPC, reveals Agrawal.

    A big bang marketing and promotional campaign has been planned post-launch. It includes promos on the Zee TV network channels, billboards, radio, print, online and below the line activities in Rajasthan. Agrawal proudly says that pre-teelcast more than 50 brands – both local and national – have signed on, taking advantage of the inaugural ad rates which are on for a limited time.

    Zee Rajasthan Plus is being beamed off Asiasat 3S (105.5 degrees east) and will be available free during a six month preview period on both cable TV and satellite, following which the plan is to go pay, explains Agrawal."The idea is to initially focus its distribution push on Rajasthan, and then move into other states," he adds.

    Of course, it will be running into head on competition with existing players like ETV Rajasthan, and Sahara Samay's regional news channel. But Agrawal believes that should not be a problem. "Our whole effort is to bring people from different walks of life, together, on the channel," says Agrawal. "And we have got our strategy right."

    He and his team probably have, but it's now over to the viewers.

  • Zeel’s Q1-2014 PAT up by 42.6 per cent (y-o-y)

    Zeel’s Q1-2014 PAT up by 42.6 per cent (y-o-y)

    BENGALURU: Content and broadcast player Zee Entertainment Enterprises Limited (Zeel) unaudited results for Q1-2014 reported a growth of 42.6 per cent ( y-o-y) PAT, with a PAT margin of 23 per cent at Rs 223.9 crore as compared to the Rs 157 crore during the corresponding quarter of FY-2013. Consolidated operating revenues were up 15.5 per cent (y-o-y) at Rs 973.3 crore during Q1-2014 from the Rs 843 crore reported for Q1-2013.

    Let’s take a look at Zeel’s Q1-2014 performance

    Advertising revenues for Q1-2014 were higher at Rs 530.1 crore, recording an 18.5 per cent growth over Q1-2013’s Rs 447.2 crore.

    Zeel’s subscription revenues for Q1-2014 were also up by 16.5 per cent at Rs 421.1 crore as compared to the Rs 361.1 crore during corresponding period last year. Zeel’s domestic subscription revenues stood at Rs 316.8 crore (up 26.5 per cent as compared to Q1-2013); while its international subscription revenues were Rs 107.3 crore for Q1-2014 (down 5.6 per cent y-o-y as against Q1-2013.

    Other sales and services revenues were down 39.7 per cent for Q1-2014 at Rs 19.1 crore as compared to Rs 31.7 crore during Q1-2013.

    Zeel’s operating costs increased 9.6 per cent to Rs 410.8 crore for Q1-2014 from Rs 375.7 crore in Q1-2013. Its employee costs increased 7.7 per cent to Rs 95.6 crore from Rs 88.6 crore during Q1-2013. Selling and other expenses saw a 20.7 per cent jump to Rs 175.4 crore during Q1-2014 from Rs 145.3 crore reported in Q1-2013.

    Zeel offered and allotted 55,48,400 equity shares at a price of Rs 119.90 per share upon exercise of ESOP by its employees during Q1-2014. During the AGM held in July 2013, Zeel shareholders passed a special resolution approving enhancement of FII limits in the company beyond the current limit of 49 per cent to the maximum sectorial limit allowed under FDI applicable regulations.

    Zeel chairman Subhash Chandra said, “The economy during the quarter has continued to face challenges due sharp depreciation in rupee against major currencies leading to elevated current account deficit, balance of payment, inflation and adverse fiscal deficit. In spite of this lackluster growth television media industry has posted a comparatively robust growth on back of sustained advertisement spends by the consumer goods sector.”

    “Our performance during the quarter reflects the investments that Zee is making to grow its business and market share. This has been accompanied by a strong improvement in operating performance of the company during the quarter. In a highly competitive space, Zee continues to build its media assets and in the process continues to create value for the shareholders. We have a strong balance sheet and I am confident that we would take advantage of the growth opportunities ahead of us,” added Chandra.

    Zeel managing director and CEO Punit Goenka said, “The subscription revenue during the quarter has shown robust increase and with digitization rollout, will improve medium term. Sports performance for the quarter has been good, but due to heavy sports calendar and rupee depreciation, the business is expected to be in losses for some time.”

    “The phased implementation of Trai regulation with respect to advertising inventory based on clock-hour has started and in expected to be fully in place by the end of second quarter, DAS in phase I and II also moved a step further with MSOs’ making substantial progress in capturing consumer data and taking first steps towards implementing packaging”, added Goenka.

    “While competitive intensity remains high in the Indian television industry, we continue to make efforts towards further enhancing our market share. Our content focused approach combined with better monetization of subscription revenues, will contribute to company delivering steady return in the years ahead”, added Goenka further.

  • Subhash Chandra ropes in retail and life style veteran Wadhwa to head Siti Cable

    Subhash Chandra ropes in retail and life style veteran Wadhwa to head Siti Cable

    Mumbai: There’s tremendous promise and potential in Indian cable TV. No one knows this better than Essel group and Zee TV
    chairman Subhash Chandra who floated cable TV firm Siti Cable more than 19 years ago – in the early stages of cable and satellite TV in India.

    And with the Indian cable TV sector now undergoing digitisation under a government mandate, he clearly believes he can take India’s leading MSO to greater heights.

    Today Chandra announced the appointment of V D Wadhwa as CEO of Siti Cable Network. The cable TV network has close to 10 million subscribers nationally. Reaching out to over 10 million viewers.

    As Siti Cable CEO , Wadhwa will be based out of Noida and will be responsible for taking forward the organisational aspirations of growing the business of Siti Cable multifold through digitisation.

    His last assignment was with Timex Group India where he was managing director & CEO for business operations in India and Saarc countries. Wadhwa brings with him over 28 years of general management experience in consumer life style and retail industry and largely credited with the profitable turnaround of Timex operations in India and establishing its retail operations in India and south Asian countries.

    Wadhwa is an alumnus of Harvard Business School and a fellow member of the Institute of Company Secretaries of India. He has served on various Ficci and Assocham committees besides serving as president of the Horological Federation of India.

    Says Chandra: “We are delighted to have Wadhwa at the helm of Siti Cable. With his strong business acumen and strategic inputs, we expect the company to touch new highs with the aggressive growth plan in the digital regime. I am confident that Wadhwa’s association with the group will add immense value to the Company and all its stake holders.”

  • Zeel and ATL invest ?3.6 million in MirriAd

    MUMBAI: Indian media mogul Subhash Chandra has a strategic investment of ?3.6 million in digital brand integration specialist MirriAd through his broadcasting company Zeel and subsidiary Asia Today Ltd (ATL).

    The strategic investment by Chandra‘s ATL and Zee will see MirriAd deployed across India and other markets in the Asia region on broadcast, cable and satellite, and follows the success of campaigns by Zee TV in the UK, which used MirriAd technology to integrate UK brands into the Indian-produced popular daily soap Pavitra Rishta.

    Zeel chairman Subhash Chandra commented, “MirriAd‘s technology offers Zee and ATL a great opportunity to integrate locally relevant brands across all our territories, who knows, we might even be able to create an ad-free channel before long.”

    MirriAd‘s digital solution means brands can be integrated into programming remotely and independently of production schedules. This MirriAd platform offers brands the opportunity to target huge audiences across many countries with ease and across a wide variety of content locally, regionally and globally.

    MirriAd CEO Mark Popkiewicz said, “This is an exciting and important development for MirriAd. Asia and in particular India represents an incredibly important growth market with enormous potential for our bespoke technology for both media owners and brands. With a high GDP growth rate and a population of over 1.21 billion, India is a must have market for brands. Edge is an active and supportive investor with immense entertainment industry knowledge, and to have Subhash Chandra together with Zee and ATL commit to our future is a significant endorsement of our vision.”

  • Chandra, Carey to attend APOS 2013 pay-TV summit

    Chandra, Carey to attend APOS 2013 pay-TV summit

    MUMBAI: Media moghul Subhash Chandra and News Corp president COO Chase Carey are among the executives who will attend the fourth annual Asia Pacific Pay-TV Operators Summit (APOS).

    Taking place from 22 – 24 April in Bali, it is being organised by Media Partners Asia. APOS (www.visitapos.com) is a regional event for TV and broadband industry executives with intent to drive bold thinking, strategy, deals and policy.

    Media Partners Asia executive director Vivek Couto said, “Both emerging growth markets and mature, value geographies in Asia Pacific are increasingly vital to future of strategic global majors This year‘s APOS is a testament to this trend while the line-up and themes are also a significant nod to the growing aspirations of leading local players with currency to expand in domesticand international markets.”
     
    Other speakers include SES president, CEO Romain Bausch, CJ HelloVision CEO DS Byun, Saban Capital Group president, COO Adam Chesnoff, Foxtel CEO Richard Freudenstein, KT Media Hub CEO Joosung Kim, Hathway Cable & Datacom CEO Jagdish Kumar, Multi Screen Media CEO Man Jit Singh and NBCUniversal International Television president Kevin MacLellan.

  • Zee calls for a creative and media pitch for Africa

    MUMBAI: Zee Entertainment Enterprises Limited has called for a creative and media pitch for its operations in sub-Saharan Africa. The size of the business is expected to be in the range of $10-12 million annually. The pitch will be divided into four phases starting December 2012 going up to February 2013.

    Until now, Zee TV has been catering mainly to the Indian Diaspora in Africa, as a result of which its ATL presence and spend has been limited. In the coming fiscal, Zee plans to relay content from Bollywood as well as popular local African content to TV HHs in Africa by launching customised GEC TV channels to suit African tastes.

    Zee has been present in Africa since 1996, via the Multichoice digital platform and South Africa was one of the first international markets Zee TV forayed into. It later expanded its reach on the continent via other platforms like Canal Plus. Zee TV is the only Indian Hindi General Entertainment Category broadcaster that has a separate beam for Africa.

    Zee is amongst the largest producers and aggregators of Hindi programming in the world, with over 100,000 hours of television content. With rights to more than 3,000 movie titles from foremost studios and of iconic film stars, Zee houses the world‘s largest Hindi film library. Through its strong presence worldwide, Zee entertains over 650 million viewers across 168 countries.

    Zee celebrated 20 years of its launch in the Indian market on 2nd October 2012 and has embarked on an aggressive expansion drive across the globe, with Africa being a focal point. On the occasion, Zee Chairman Subhash Chandra said, “we are at an inflexion point, a position from where we have to leapfrog and move into the next growth trajectory.”