ITV

Tag: Zee Anmol Cinema

  • Broadcasters pay premium in DD Free Dish auction, total revenue hits Rs 208 crore

    Broadcasters pay premium in DD Free Dish auction, total revenue hits Rs 208 crore

    MUMBAI: Leading broadcasters have secured slots in Prasar Bharati’s 85th e-auction for DD Free Dish, with the public broadcaster earning Rs 208.10 crore from eleven slots in the first two days of bidding.

    In the premium Bucket A+ category for Hindi general entertainment channels, Zee Anmol led the bidding at Rs 18.60 crore, followed by Star Utsav at Rs 18.25 crore and Big Magic at Rs 17.25 crore. Sony PAL, Colors Rishtey, and Sun Neo secured their slots at Rs 18.55 crore, Rs 18.35 crore, and Rs 18.50 crore respectively.

    The movie channel category (Bucket A) saw Star Utsav Movies securing a slot for Rs 16.95 crore, whilst Colors Cineplex Superhits, Sony Wah, and Zee Anmol Cinema followed with bids of Rs 16.50 crore, Rs 16.60 crore, and Rs 16.55 crore respectively.

    In the news category (Bucket C), NDTV India, now owned by the Adani Group, secured the first slot for Rs 14.35 crore, followed by Republic Bharat at Rs 14.20 crore. These rates marked a significant drop from last year when news channels paid between Rs 16.35 crore and Rs 18.95 crore.

    Notably, several channels including Zee Anmol, Star Utsav, Sony PAL, and Colors Rishtey returned to the platform after a three-year hiatus. The secured slots will be valid from 1 April 2025 to 31 March 2026.

    The robust bidding came despite a recent TRAI directive requiring pay-TV channels on DD Free Dish to become free-to-air across all platforms, demonstrating broadcasters’ continued interest in the platform’s extensive rural reach.

    (Some of these numbers have been accessed from The Economic Times)

  • Zee Anmol Cinema:World tv premiere of ‘Swajan’ on 13 Oct

    Zee Anmol Cinema:World tv premiere of ‘Swajan’ on 13 Oct

    Mumbai: Traditions have, for long, given us the comfort of believing that our loved ones are safe – wherever they are. Maybe that’s why we offer Pind Daan. Bringing to screens a beautiful tale of culture, family and redemption is Zee Anmol Cinema as they present Swajan on Friday, 13 October at 7 PM. This gripping drama delves into the complexities of a family caught in the throes of subtle ego which triggers anger and initiates rivalry; it showcases how close relationships get caught in bitterness and ignorance towards each other for years. What will happen when these family members, who were cut off from each other, come face to face and deal with the sudden demise of their patriarch?

    A touching reminder of the importance of ancestral respect not just in words but in deeds, the film is being premiered at a time of much importance, highlighting the significance of Pitru Paksha, observed during this month, a time when homage is paid to one’s ancestors and seek their Anmol blessings. The directorial debut by actor Velu Yeldandi, the film stars Priyadarshi Pulikonda and Kavya Kalyanram as the lead characters. The movie is produced by veteran Dil Raju who has previously produced many hits.

    On the premiere of the film, director Venu Yeldandi said, “Swajan holds a deep connection for me because, after years of working toward it, this film began my directorial journey. It’s a story that resonates with the heart and soul of every family. Through the lens of this film, I aimed to capture the bonds that tie families together, and the relevance culture holds even today. Swajan is a tribute to the unspoken emotions that often reside within families, and I hope it inspires viewers to cherish their loved ones a little more”

    Priyadarshi Pulikonda said, “Saayilu is a character very close to my heart, and Swajan was a remarkable journey of self-discovery for me as an actor. His struggles, ambitions, and the complex dynamics within his family made this role challenging, but also a very eye-opening one. I believe the film’s message about the importance of family and tradition will resonate with audiences across generations”

    Kavya Kalyanram said, “My character, Sandhya, is not just a heroine, she’s a symbol of the indomitable spirit that holds families together. My character taught me that sometimes, it takes courage to confront our own past and secrets. Swajan beautifully portrays the transformative nature of forgiveness. For me, family is the most important and this film, it has only made it stronger”

    Producer Dil Raju added, “Swajan is more than just a film; it’s a heartfelt journey that mirrors the complexities of human relationships. We embarked on this journey with the aim of telling a story that would touch hearts and souls. It’s been a pleasure working with Director Venu Yeldandi and the talented cast to bring this story to life. We hope Swajan will leave a lasting impact, reminding us all to cherish our families”

    Swajan is set in a village in Telangana and revolves around the aftereffects on a family and its relations, both with the village folks and among themselves after the jovial patriarch of the family suddenly passes away. The family’s pinda ritual, attended by the whole village, shows that the old man’s soul is unsatisfied with something when the crows refrain from eating the offerings. Will the family sort out their differences, figure out and free the departed soul?

    Don’t miss the premiere of Swajan at Zee Anmol Cinema on Friday, 13 October, at 7 PM and on Zee Cinema & Zee Cinema HD on Mon., 20 Nov, at 3 PM!

  • Zee Anmol Cinema premieres ‘Shakuntala’ starring Samantha Ruth Prabhu

    Zee Anmol Cinema premieres ‘Shakuntala’ starring Samantha Ruth Prabhu

    Mumbai: Zee Anmol Cinema, with their brand promise, ‘Aapki Family Ka Cinema Hall’, has, continually, delivered top-notch entertainment that resonates with audiences across the country. Their vast content library, diversity and family-friendly approach make the channel a go-to destination for those seeking quality entertainment from the comfort of their homes. Staying true to their brand proposition, the channel is, for the first time ever, bringing the magic of love from the epic of Mahabharata with the visually stunning and captivating adaptation based on Kalidasa’s Rachna – Shakuntala on Sunday, 1 October at 7 pm. Starring the gorgeous Samantha Ruth Prabhu along with Dev Mohan, the film unfolds the story of Shakuntala and Dushyant against a backdrop of divine enchantment, human emotions, and destiny’s intricate design.

    Dushyant and Shakuntala’s love story is one that has enthralled audiences for centuries. Shakuntala transports viewers to this cherished era with its stunning visual presentation. The intricately designed sets, costumes, and breathtaking cinematography create a world that is both immersive and enchanting.

    At its heart, it is a story that resonates with the human experience. Shakuntala and King Dushyant marry, but Dushyant forgets all about Shakuntala due to a sage’s curse. It follows the journey of a woman who must navigate the intricate web of emotions, pain, and resilience to reunite with her love. 

  • Zee Anmol & Zee Anmol Cinema make a comeback on DD Free Dish

    Zee Anmol & Zee Anmol Cinema make a comeback on DD Free Dish

    MUMBAI: With a view to consolidate its viewer base and reclaim its leadership position in the HSM rural market, Zee is all set to re-enter the FTA (free-to-air) space with its return to DD Free Dish from 10 June.

    Zee Anmol was a consistently present in the HSM rural market till last year, the popular GEC channel enjoyed immense popularity in the FTA market with its deep-rooted understanding of the rural viewer, their sensibilities, entertainment needs and preferences. The role of entertainment and in spreading positivity and hope amongst viewers is further pronounced now and Zee Anmol is set to provide that with an exciting content line-up for the Free Dish audiences who had limited choices till now. Zee hopes to reclaim 25 per cent market share with a leadership position in Rural and is gunning for a large share of the FTA revenue space.

    Catering to the demand for strong inspirational content amongst rural audiences, especially women in the age range of 15 to 30 years that constitutes the core TG for the segment, Zee Anmol is set to showcase moving stories of strong female archetypes and their real journeys of grit and resilience from the ZEEL library, with shows such as Choti Bahu, Doli Armano Ki and the immensely popular Kumkum Bhagya forming the tent-pole properties of the channel’s initial line-up right after its shift to DD Free Dish.

    Zee chief consumer officer Prathyusha Agarwal said, “Over the years, Zee Anmol has shared a special relationship with rural India through its deep-rooted understanding of the rural viewer. In the current scenario, we see a tremendous increase in demand for differentiated content on DD Free Dish, especially as a learning from recent wins in Bhojpuri with Zee Biskope and Punjab markets with Zee Punjabi. Our library at Zee has riveting stories of women with vision and resilience that have the potential of inspiring women in the rural markets who are in search of a role model to look up to. We see this as an opportunity for Zee Anmol to reclaim its leadership position in the HSM Rural market through the channel’s reintroduction on DD Free Dish.”

    With Zee Anmol Cinema’s comeback, the channel aims to occupy a distinct position in the Hindi movie space by establishing a personal connect with our viewers. Keeping the consumers sensibilities in mind, the channel is all set to entertain the viewers with family entertainers like Simmba, 2.0, Satyamev Jayate, Commando 3, Race 3, Spyder, Suriya S3, Saamy 2, K3 – Kaali Ka Karishma amongst others. With the robust content line up, the channel aims to offer an entertaining experience to the family-oriented audience.

    Staying true to its brand promise, ‘Aapki Family Ka Cinema Hall’, the channel with its exclusively curated content aims to satiate the preferences of rural audiences who are rooted to their family ties and values and aspire the urban lifestyle. With a diverse content repository of 1500+ movies, the channel will air a slew of choicest movies spanning across different genres targeted to a wholesome family viewing experience.

    Zee Hindi Movies cluster, business head Ruchir Tiwari, said “Rural markets take the centre stage with more than half of the TV viewership coming from the heartland. With the on-going health concerns, there is an increasing need for entertainment across the country, especially FTA channels considering spending power is decreasing. The recent jump in viewership of movie genre is a testimony to that.  With this move, we are hoping to, once again, reach out to a large, content hungry audience base and become their number one choice for wholesome family entertainment.”

  • Big four broadcasters come back on DD Free Dish

    Big four broadcasters come back on DD Free Dish

    MUMBAI: All the big four broadcasters that pulled out of DD Free Dish in 2019 after the new tariff order was implemented have come back on Prasar Bharati’s free direct-to-home (DTH) platform. Star Utsav, Sony Pal, Zee Anmol, Colors Rishtey and Zee Anmol Cinema have successfully bid on the 45th e-auction for placement.

    Last year, top broadcasters agreed with the decision to no longer show any Hindi general entertainment and film channels on Doordarshan's free dish service. Industry sources said that broadcasters take such a decision so that cable and DTH customers cannot shift to DD Free Dish service.

    According to reports, DD Free Dish has a base of 30 million households across India which offers huge reach helping in advertising revenue. However, the major broadcasters said earlier that converting the channels as pay channels helped them in subscription revenue despite a dip in ad revenue.

    Notably, the Indian Broadcasting Foundation (IBF) announced that Sony Pal, Star Utsav, Zee Anmol and Colors Rishtey would be available to all viewers across the country for a period of two months free of charge on all DTH and cable networks due to the lockdown. 

  • FreeDish goes for second auction in May

    NEW DELHI: After bagging three new general entertainment channels earlier this month, Doordarshan is all set for the 35th e-auction for its DTH platform FreeDish next week, thus marking the first time when a second e-auction is being held within the same month.

    The e-auction confined to only non-news and current affairs channels is set for 25 May 2017 will have a reserve price of Rs 80 million as in the e-auction held on 9 May when Sony Wah, Zee Anmol Cinema, and 9X Jalwa successfully bid to come on the platform. Each bid came at the reserve price, Rs 80 million. The Parliament was informed earlier last month that Doordarshan’s DTH platform was soon getting approval to increase this capacity to 250 channels over the next two years.

    But, DD got a jolt last month when its 33rd e-auction slated for 11 April could not be held. Although there was no official confirmation, indiantelevision.com learnt that FreeDish auction could not be held because there were no applicants. After final trials of MPEG4 and the success of the 32nd auction in February, the reserve price for the next auction has been raised to Rs 80 million from Rs 48 million per slot.

    Until last year, the reserve price was Rs 43 million but one channel fetched the bid of Rs 70 million in the auction held on 14 February 2017.

    Earlier last year, the price for one channel went up to Rs 53 million and gave DD the confidence to raise the price which had been Rs 37 million till 2015 but was raised to Rs 43 million for the 25th e-auction in January 2016.

    The e-Auction will be conducted by M/s. C1 India Pvt. Ltd., Noida which also conducted the FM Radio Phase III auctions on behalf of Prasar Bharati.   
    The participation amount (EMD) in the e-Auction is Rs.28 million – up from Rs 15 million – which has to be deposited in advance before or by 12 noon on the date of auction along with processing fee of Rs.25,000 (non-refundable, up from Rs 10,000) in favour of PB (BCI) Doordarshan Commercial Service, New Delhi.

    Incremental amount for the auction will be Rs One Million and the time for every slot e-auction will be of fifteen minutes duration. This may be extended by five minutes if a bid is received before the closing time.

    Unsuccessful bidders will get back the participation amount of Rs 28 million within three weeks of the results.

    However, Doordarshan has changed its payment regimen and made it stricter.

    The first installment of 25 per cent of the bid price with the applicable service tax will have to be paid within one month from date of placement of channel.

    The second installment of 25 per cent of the total bid price along with the applicable service tax will have to be paid within four months of placement of channel.

    The third installment of remaining amount after adjusting the participation fee and previous installments but adding the applicable service tax will be deposited within seven months of placement of channel.

    If any of the installments is not paid in time, a penal interest of 14.5 per cent per annum will be levied.

    If there is failure in depositing an installment for two months, the deposited participation amount along with any installment paid will be forfeited and the channel discontinued after a 21-day discontinuation notice.

    Doordarshan had in October last year formally announced that FreeDish was capable of carrying 104 television channels and 24 channels would be added to the existing 80 channels after the launch of MPEG4 technology.

    In line with the ‘Digital India’ and ‘Make in India’, DD has implemented Indian CAS (iCAS) on DD FreeDish Platform. iCAS (which is an initiative of the central government) was introduced in the auction held last month. The introduction of iCAS will provide enhanced viewing experience.

    DD officials said the existing viewers will continue to get 80 SDTV channels and 32 radio channels, but will have to obtain iCAS-enabled authorized set-top boxes for accessing all new channels.

    Although Free Dish will remain free-to-air with no monthly or periodic fee, the viewers will be required to register with DD FreeDish on getting the new STB from Doordarshan authorized STB dealers.

     DD officials said implementation of iCAS and authorisation of STB original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) by Doordarshan will give a major thrust to ‘Make in India’ and ‘Digital India’. At present, a majority of STBs are imported. However, the introduction of iCAS will help in standardization of STBs and encourage quality STB manufacturing in India.

    With analogue having been switched off, Parliament had been told that many stakeholders feel that FreeDish is the best option in Phase IV which covers rural India.

    FreeDish was launched with a modest bouquet of 33 channels in December 2004, and now carries eighty TV channels and 32 radio channels. This includes 22 Doordarshan channels and two parliamentary channels, seven general entertainment channels, 18 movie channels, 13 news channels, seven music channels, three religious channels and eight channels of other genres. The All-India Radio stations also piggy-back on the platform.

    Also read:

    MIB favours switching to DTH if consumers have problems with MSOs or LCOs

    FreeDish aims to reach 150 channels, earned Rs 3 bn in a year

    DD FreeDish auction next week, reserve price is Rs 80 million

  • Sony Wah, Zee Anmol Cinema & 9X Jalwa set to join DD FreeDish, bid Rs 80m each

    NEW DELHI: Three general entertainment channels – Sony Wah, Zee Anmol Cinema, and 9X Jalwa – have bagged three slots on Doordarshan’s DTH platform FreeDish.

    In the 34th e-auction om 9 May 2017, the three channels bid Rs 80 million each, which was the reserve price.  

    After final trials of MPEG4 and the success of the 32nd auction in February, the reserve price for the next auction has been raised to Rs 80 million from Rs 48 million per slot.

    Parliament was informed earlier last month that FreeDish was soon getting approval to increase this capacity to 250 channels over the next two years.

    Until last year, the reserve price was Rs 43 million but one channel fetched the bid of Rs 70 million in the auction held on 14 February 2017.

    Earlier last year, the price for one channel went up to Rs 53 million and gave DD the confidence to raise the price which had been Rs 37 million till 2015 but was raised to Rs 43 million for the 25th e-auction in January 2016.

    DD got a jolt last month when its auction slated for 11 April could not be held. Although there was no official confirmation, indiantelevision.com learns that the FreeDish auction could not be held because there were no applicants.

    The participation amount (EMD) in the e-Auction was Rs.28 nullion – up from Rs 15 million – along with processing fee of Rs.25,000 (non-refundable, up from Rs 10,000).

    Incremental amount for the auction was Rs One Million. Of the bid price, Rs 11 million will be deposited within one month of placement and another Rs 11 million within two months along with service tax of 15 per cent on the bid amount.

    The balance bid amount will be deposited within six months, failing which the deposited amount will be forfeited and the channel discontinued after a 21-day discontinuation notice. The participation fee will be adjusted against the third and final installment for the respective channel.

    A new era begun with the adoption of MPEG4 helping FreeDish take the first major step to mark towards its target of 104 television channels by March end with its 32nd e-auction which helped it cross the capacity of eighty channels. FreeDish touched the figure of 104 with its 32nd Auction.

    Doordarshan had in October last year formally announced that FreeDish was capable of carrying 104 television channels and 24 channels would be added to the existing 80 channels after the launch of MPEG4 technology.

    In line with the ‘Digital India’ and ‘Make in India’, DD has implemented Indian CAS (iCAS) on DD FreeDish Platform. iCAS (which is an initiative of the central government) was introduced in the auction held last month. The introduction of iCAS will provide enhanced viewing experience.

    DD officials said the existing viewers will continue to get 80 SDTV channels and 32 radio channels, but will have to obtain iCAS-enabled authorized set-top boxes for accessing all new channels.

    Although FreeDish will remain free to air with no monthly or periodic fee, the viewers will be required to register with DD FreeDish on getting the new STB from Doordarshan authorized STB dealers.

    DD officials said implementation of iCAS and authorisation of STB original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) by Doordarshan will give a major thrust to ‘Make in India’ and ‘Digital India’. At present, a majority of STBs are imported. However, the introduction of iCAS will help in standardization of STBs and encourage quality STB manufacturing in India.

    With analogue having been switched off, Parliament had been told that many stakeholders feel that FreeDish is the best option in Phase IV which covers rural India.

    FreeDish was launched with a modest bouquet of 33 channels in December 2004, and now carries eighty TV channels and 32 radio channels. This includes 22 Doordarshan channels and two parliamentary channels, seven general entertainment channels, 18 movie channels, 13 news channels, seven music channels, three religious channels and eight channels of other genres. All All India Radio stations also piggy-back on the platform.

    Also Read

    MIB favours switching to DTH if consumers have problems with MSOs or LCOs

    FreeDish aims to reach 150 channels, earned Rs 3 bn in a year

    DD FreeDish auction next week, reserve price is Rs 80 million