Zee MGM – Page 3

Rediffusion to handle Zee no more

MUMBAI: It’s official now. Rediffusion DY&R has stopped handling corporate communications for Zee’s flagship channel Zee TV as well as Zee MGM and Zee English as of 1 September.

Clea PR however continues to handle Zee Cinema and Zee Music, which are headed by ETC promoter Yogesh Radhakrishnan. The decision to handle the PR for the Zee channels had been taken a few months ago, when the Subhash Chandra-led Essel Group decided to create a signature group under Corporate Brand Development Group (CBDG) for all the brands in the group as a corporate brand. Rediffusion however was handling the Zee accounts till recently.

While the brands that the new group will handle includes all Zee brands, Alpha brands, Playwin, Zee Education, Essel World, Water Kingdom, Fun Republic, Essel Propack Ltd., and the Agrani group, Zee Cinema and Zee Music have been left out of its ambit, at least for the time being.

The move has come almost in conjunction with the group’s decision to start subscribing to TAM data. The flagship Zee TV has recently launched its big ticket show of the year – Awaz – Dil Se Dil Tak and is scheduled to launch another – The Magic Make Up Box this Sunday. Last year’s innovative show, Jeena Isika Naam Hai, also returns in a new season to the channel this Friday.

September 4, 2003

MGM to extend TV reach in Asia through CNBC

SINGAPORE: MGM is pushing forward in its attempt to penetrate the Asian market through MGM branded film channels. The film and television studio has announced a venture with CNBC Asia Pacific to launch a movie channel under the MGM brand name on satellite and cable TV systems in Asian markets.
An official release informs that the broadcasters will launch the channel later this year. The English channel will have Mandarin subtitles. MGM and CNBC Asia Pacific are currently exploring several distribution opportunities in the region.
The alliance will target markets where an MGM channel is not now seen, including China and Southeast Asia. In India, MGM has a joint venture with Zee and is aired as a movie channel Zee MGM.
Both MGM and CNBC have complementary assets in which they both have core competencies, says an official release. It further underscores the success MGM and CNBC’s sister company, NBC, have enjoyed working together overseas. For instance one alliance, in which MGM distributes NBC’s prime time TV shows internationally, marries MGM’s expertise in selling films and TV shows overseas with NBC’s top-rated line-up of prime time programmes such as Will & Grace. In India this airs on Zee MGM’s sister channel Zee English.
The MGM Channel in Asia plans to present round-the-clock offerings from MGM’s celebrated 4,000-title library, including West Side Story, Midnight Cowboy, The Birdcage, The Manchurian Candidate.
The release states that with the launch of this MGM Channel in alliance with CNBC Asia Pacific, MGM Networks will have in deployment an array of satellite footprints across the globe that will allow technical receipt of MGM Networks channels in all significant international cable and satellite markets, including those within Europe, Latin America, Africa, the Middle East and the Asia Pacific region.
A Reuters report indicates that MGM views the cable TV expansion mainly as a long term strategy. CNBC Asia Pacific’s channels are available in more than 25 million homes across the Asia Pacific region.

August 4, 2003

Turner to handle ad sales for Zee MGM, Zee English & Trendz

MUMBAI: Distribution partners Zee Telefilms and Turner International India are expanding their relationship. Effective 1 July, Turner will be the exclusive advertising sales agent for Zees English entertainment & lifestyle channels Zee MGM, Zee English and Trendz.

Under this agreement, Turner will use its in-house expertise in India and internationally to promote the channels to advertisers in India and work with clients and agencies to increase advertising revenues on the channels, an official release states.

This agreement furthers the relationship between Zee and Turner that began when the two parties formed a joint venture company, Zee Turner Limited, in December 2001, to manage distribution and trade marketing for a bouquet of Zee and Turner channels as well as third party channels in India and South Asia.

Ad sales at Zee MGM and Zee English is currently being managed by Rohinton Maloo’s Cutting Edge Media. It was in September 2002 that Cutting Edge was appointed to manage the two English niche channels in the Zee bouquet with the brief to develop sales strategies and drive front end ad sales. At the time the deal was struck, Zee had an option to buy a strategic equity stake in the company at some point.

For Turner, the addition of Zee’s three channels augment the variety offered by Turner to advertisers, adding general entertainment, movies and fashion to the existing line-up of entertainment and news provided by Cartoon Network and CNN. Turner will be working closely with the Zee team to create effective sales solutions and will also expand its sales team to sell these three properties, the release says.

Anshuman Misra, Managing Director, Turner International India Pvt. Ltd, said, “Over the years, Turner has exceeded expectations and over-delivered in advertising sales for our own channels; and we are pleased to be leveraging our sales expertise to expand our partnership with Zee. With the addition of these channels, we have expanded our portfolio of tools with which we can create even more innovative marketing packages for advertisers to target consumers across a broader demographic spectrum.”

June 17, 2003

“We want to change the profile of the Zee English viewer” : Ashvini Yardi Zee English, Zee MGM business head

She personifies the image and spirit of the two spirited channels from the Zee stable that have, in a short span, asserted their identity and are bringing in the niche eyeballs for the network.

Young, petite and dynamic, Ashvini Yardi nee Pai, business head of Zee English and Zee MGM, is nevertheless a Zee veteran. Having started her career with the network nearly a decade ago after graduating in mass communication, Ashwini has essentially been a programming person, having handled hugely successful shows like the countdown show Top 10, Kya Scene Hai, Sailaab and Banegi Apni Baat. She looked after Music Asia for two years and was one of the key people involved in the conceptualisation of Zee English.

The mantle of nurturing Zee MGM and Zee English fell on her shoulders recently after Ajay Trigunayat, under whose stewardship Zee MGM underwent a revamp in December 2002, was promoted to head all marketing functions at the network recently.

A confident Ashvini is now outlining plans for a revamp of Zee English even as the rejuvenated Zee MGM has started reaping rich dividends. In a conversation with Aparna Joshi of indiantelevision.com, Ashvini detailed the plans she has for both channels.

What are the plans you have chalked up for both Zee English, Zee MGM?
Zee English is in for a total revamp shortly. Basically, we will be changing the look of Zee English, and make it trendier. The profile of the Zee English viewer thus far has been that of an older, mature person. After conducting research in metros in which we have strong viewership, it was decided that the channel would target the younger set. For this, a stronger programming line up has been put in place, as also a series of ground events, promotions in theatres and outdoors as well as several tie ups with teenage hangouts in the cities. This will help us reach out to the younger crowd and establish the channel as a trendy one.

Also, we are strengthening our Singapore base, from where the two channels are uplinked. We are hiring more people to make creative ad films for channel promotion. We are also putting into place high end machines, that will help in better transmission.

As for Zee MGM, Chicago that we acquired recently, will be billed as Zee MGM’s Movie of the Year. George Clooney’s latest Confessions of a dangerous mind, Steve Soderberg’s Full Frontal starring Julia Roberts, Birthday Girl starring Nicole Kidman and Duplex with Drew Barrymore, which is yet to be released are some of the movies we have acquired.

This year, we will focus on a mix of old classics, interspersed with latest films. The channel has capitalised on the MGM library comprising of more than 4,000 titles including legendary series such as James Bond, Rocky, Pink Panther and Woody Allen movies. Some award winning titles, forming a part of the library, are Thelma and Louise, Moonstruck, Silence of the Lambs, RainMan, Fargo, Get Shorty and Dances with the Wolves.

What is the programming with which you expect to hook viewers on to Zee English?
Our existing programmes like Friends, which came onto Zee English earlier than it did on Star World, should continue to bring in the loyal audiences, as also recently launched shows like Will And Grace and The Mind of the Married Man which have been huge successes in their time slots. Since the time band of 8 pm to 10.30 pm is working very well for us, we will continue to pump in our prime shows in this slot.

In fact, we are now concentrating on building up the 8 pm to 9 pm slot. The ninth season of Friends will launch by June, and new shows like Six Feet Under and She Spies are sure to attract viewers. The Sopranos will return with their new season in June, while a NBC sitcom Hidden Hills will debut in May. The point is, we are now sourcing shows from several production companies rather than rely on a chosen few. The same goes for our sourcing strategy for Zee MGM.

Is there any plan in place to improve viewership in other dayparts as well?
We are now strengthening our Sunday mornings with a focus on children’s programming. There will be action animated series and sitcoms on Fridays for teenagers. Also planned are some shows that will appeal to housewives during weekday afternoons, but the shows are yet to be finalised.

“For Zee MGM, we have acquired almost 100 movies, at least 25 of which are blockbuster hits abroad“

What is the advertising that you plan to spin around the two channels to increase awareness?
We are majorly stepping up presence in outdoor advertising and in print. We have an existing tie up with Magna and indiatimes that we plan to exploit to the hilt to improve coverage. We will also venture into radio for advertising our new shows. (Ashwini pegs the proposed ad spend around the two channels at around Rs 30 million).

What about Zee MGM? In its recently revamped avatar, has it fetched in the viewers? Is there anything more on the cards?
The revamped Zee MGM has delivered what it set out to achieve. So, while things are proceeding smoothly on that front, we are now focusing on acquiring movies from studios other than MGM. The widened net has yielded almost 100 movie acquisitions, at least 25 of which are blockbuster hits abroad. After the minimum lock in period, we will begin telecasting these movies in the latter half of the year, mostly in the Movie of the Month slot or in the Sunday primetime slot.

You have been involved with Zee English right from the time the channel started? How has it evolved over the last two years?
Zee English started in March 2000. We started off with shows like ABC’s All My Children, Friends, Three’s Company and Here’s Lucy. I believe the Zee English audience has matured over these three years. They are now ready to experiment with genres and ready to sample new fare.

Where is the Zee MGM and Zee English viewership currently concentrated?
Basically, the metros. Though one can never be sure. Last year, for example, the Miss Universe telecast on Zee English drew in a huge viewership from Ludhiana. So, there are pockets which are attracted to the channels no matter their location. A show like She Spies could in fact appeal to viewers in the north, for example.

April 11, 2003

Zee English to revamp, don trendier avatar

MUMBAI: Zee English is changing its look.

Beginning with the Miss Universe pageant that will be held in Panama in June, the niche channel will revamp itself, complete with different graphics, packaging and promotions. The channel will strengthen its Singapore base (from where it is currently uplinked) by putting into place higher end machines, hiring manpower to create more innovative ad films for the channel’s programming.

The stress from the next two months will be on ground events, promotions in theatres and outdoor, besides tying up with teenage hangouts in metros. The idea is to change the image of the channel from one meant for mature audiences to one for the younger set. Zee MGM and Zee English business head Ashwini Yardi says inhouse research pointed to an appreciation of content but perception of the channel has suffered thus far.

The programming too is slated for a rejig. She Spies, a new show will go on air from tonight in the 10:30 pm slot, while the ninth season of Friends will air from June. The trendier Zee English will also air a CBS show Six Feet Under and a NBC sitcom series Hidden Hills from May. The Sopranos return with a new season in June.

The channel is also planning to focus attention on children’s programming with action animation series on Sunday mornings and daily sitcoms. Music shows and teenage dramas are in the pipeline for the under 20 set. The housewife is not being left out either, a line up of afternoon soaps is also on the cards.

April 8, 2003

Zee MGM to air Chicago in November

MUMBAI: Even before Chicago releases in theatres in India, Zee MGM has announced the acquisition of the satellite telecast rights of the acclaimed musical. The movie will air on the channel in November or December this year, says newly appointed Zee MGM business head Ashwini Yardi.
Nominated for 13 Oscars, Chicago will be billed as Zee MGM’s Movie of the Year. 2003 seems poised to become a year of latest Hollywood hits for Zee MGM, as Yardi lists out the names of recent acquisitions to its film library, while refraining from putting a figure to the cost of acquiring the celluloid gems. George Clooney’s latest Confessions of a dangerous mind, Steve Soderberg’s Full Frontal starring Julia Roberts, Birthday Girl starring Nicole Kidman and Duplex with Drew Barrymore, which is yet to be released.

“The idea”, says Yardi, “is not just to acquire Hollywood blockbusters, but genuinely good movies for our audience.” The logic flows from Run Lola Run, which the channel acquired last year, a movie that was not Hollywood fare but a German film that become a runaway hit. “This year, we will focus on a mix of old classics, interspersed with latest films as well,” explains Yardi.
Last year too, the channel mixed classic movies with new hits like Traffic, cashing in on a revamped channel ID and logo and some smart packaging. The channel has capitalised on the MGM library comprising of more than 4,000 titles including legendary series such as James Bond, Rocky, Pink Panther and Woody Allen movies. Some award winning titles, forming a part of the library, are Thelma and Louise, Moonstruck, Silence of the Lambs, RainMan, Fargo, Get Shorty and Dances with the Wolves.
Yardi intends to take the revamp strategy further. “Our attempt has always been to bring to our viewers the latest and the very best from Hollywood, last year we had brought highly acclaimed movies like Run Lola Run, Traffic and more. This year we have acquired the most prestigious and talked about blockbuster of the year Chicago. We will unfold the very best of our line-up this year to give our viewers some premium entertainment.”
The list of movies acquired by Zee MGM –
1. Serendipity (Kate Beckinsale, John Cussack)
2. Everyone says I Love You (Julia Roberts, Drew Barrymore,Goldie Hawn )
3. Jacky Brown Directed by Quentin Tarantino (Samuel Jackson,Bridget Fonda )
4. Birthday Girl (Nicole Kidman Ben Chaplin)
5. Full Frontal directed by Steven Soderberg (Julia Roberts, David Duchovny)
6. The Cyder House Rules (Michael Caine ,Tobey McQuire)
7. Confessions of a dangerous mind ( Geprge Clooney and Julia Roberts )
8. Tadpole (Sigourney Weaver and John Ritter)
9. Duplex (Drew Barrymore and Ben Stiller)

March 21, 2003

Trigunayat heads marketing, Pai heads Zee MGM, English

MUMBAI: Ashwini Pai, a longtimer at Zee, has taken over as business head of Zee English and Zee MGM from Ajay Trigunayat, who will now head marketing for the entire Zee network.
Pai, involved with Zee English and Zee MGM from the time of the inception of the two channels, was vice president before she took over as business head just over two weeks ago. Trigunayat on the other hand, took charge of the two channels in August 2002 with a brief to exploit the programming strength and potential of the two channels.
Pai, who has been with Zee for the last nine years, chiefly involved in programming, has now been entrusted with the two channels, both of which have been recently revamped. A new look Zee MGM has been in place for the last few months and new shows are being brought into Zee English to bolster its programming.
Speaking to indiantelevsion,com, Trigunayat, who has taken over as vice president of Zee network, said he would now be looking after network marketing initiatives and broad marketing strategy, while the day to day marketing would be handled by the brand teams. Trigunayat has earlier worked with Zee director, marketing Partha Sinha, but the post of VP marketing has been lying vacant since Sinha quit eight months ago and Zee went in for some vertical restructuring. Trigunayat will be reporting directly to the chairman.

March 10, 2003

“CAS is just a dream” : Rohinton Maloo Cutting Edge Media managing director

The debate over conditional access system continues in India even as the government has set July 14, 2003 as the deadline for completing implementation of CAS in the four metros as part of the first phase.

At a time when most people have hailed the government initiative on CAS as good for the industry which is preparing for a life after CAS, there are people like Rohinton Maloo, managing director of Cutting Edge Media (a division of Mediascope Associates, created to focus on the television broadcasting industry) who think otherwise. Maloo not only feels that CAS is just a flight of fancy – “a dream” which is unlikely to come true, to be precise – but also believes that if the government is really out to protect the interests of the consumers, then a different approach has to be adopted.

Mediascope was formed in the early 1990s and has been instrumental in the launch of Star channels in India, starting off with Prime Sports (which later became Star Sports), as also the likes of Cartoon Network and HBO. Cutting Edge Media was carved out of Mediascope Associates about eight months back to look at the needs of TV broadcasting in a more focussed manner and, at present, handles the ad sales of channels like Zee MGM, Zee English and Hallmark.

In this interview with indiantelevision.com’s Anjan Mitra, Maloo presents the other side of the CAS story.

The industry is hailing CAS as an initiative that will change the TV broadcasting industry in India. Do you also feel so?

Conditional access has the potential of changing the industry in India. It may turn out to be good for the industry where people who deserve revenue would get them deservedly. But CAS will not happen. At least in the present format.

What is the basis of your premise that CAS would be a non-starter?

I cannot understand how one city will have a different price mechanism in a state, while a neighbouring city will have a different mechanism. For example, you mean to say that in a city like Mumbai, people will pay a different price for cable services, while in Pune, people will pay another price for the same type of service. It is bizarre.

Then there is the issue of availability of set-top boxes and the price. I gather, there are about 15 million cable and satellite homes in the four metros where CAS is being sought to be implemented in the first phase. I also gather that no way can the price of STBs be as cheap as Rs. 1,500. Now all the 15-odd million C&S homes in the metros won’t go in for STBs. The volumes being promised are inadequate to for manufacturers to make available cheap STBs. That means the cost of STBs would continue to be high.

Now, in India about 40 per cent TV sets are capable of receiving about 14 channels only. Though such TV sets can be upgraded to receive 80-odd channels by buying a box that now costs approximately RS 1,500. Have all the TV sets been upgraded at a low cost? No. If that has not happened, then I don’t foresee a sizeable C&S homes in the metros also going in for STBs for CAS at a higher price.

“If CAS happens and cable operators’ declaration increases suddenly, it would mean that they have been cheating the government also of entertainment taxes for so many years.”

What you are saying that Indians would not cough up anything extra for conditional access. Right?

If the government is saying that the consumer is under threat of rising cable subscription rates, which are still much low in India compared to other countries, then how is it being assumed that the same consumer will fork out more money for STBs? Those who will, anyway have the purchasing power to pay a monthly cable fee of RS 400, for example.

Moreover, you cannot draw out conditional access based on geographical conditions where a Delhi subscriber will pay one price and neighbouring Gurgaon will pay another price just because CAS is not to be implemented there. I also don’t see any reason for the government pushing CAS. Why is it doing so?

“If there is no uniformity, what is the incentive for the government to push through CAS?”

The government’s stand is that it had to step in because the consumer was feeling cheated because of the rising cable subscription fee. Don’t you feel that government ought to play such a role?

I have always maintained that government should not control prices. And if it has to do that, it should be done uniformly all over the country. For instance, in a bid to make drugs affordable to the masses, the government has the drug price control order applicable all over the country which aims at compelling multinational pharmaceutical companies to have different and lower pricing schemes for the Indian masses (compared to other parts of the world). This is because it is the government’s view that they do not have adequate purchasing power to buy expensive drugs. But in the case of CAS, it is not so. There is no uniformity.

By seeking to implement CAS, does the government want to say it cares for the cable TV consumers of Kolkata and Delhi and not for those living in other cities like Pune? You cannot have different rights for people in different parts of the country. If there is no uniformity, tell me what is the incentive for the government to push through CAS? Again, if the government is going in for some price control in one industry, why isn’t it doing so in, say, the auto sector? Such things are best left to market forces and the market should determine pricing, not the government.

“I have always maintained that government should not control prices. If it has to do that, it should be done uniformly all over the country.”

But if that is so, why has the industry hailed CAS as revolutionary?

Every involved party of the industry has its own reasons to do such things. The broadcasters have hailed this, because they feel the cable operators are not giving them the due share of subscription money. Similarly, others stakeholders like MSOs and cable operators too have their own reasons to support CAS. Moreover, if CAS happens and cable operators’ declaration increases suddenly, then that would mean that they have been cheating the government also of entertainment taxes for so many years. Would cable operators, in such a scenario, get general amnesty? It may not happen, but sudden increase in declaration by cable operators does increase their chances of being prosecuted by the government also. So, this talk about CAS is all but sexy talk, a dream. And nothing else, I feel.

January 18, 2003

“Zap on to Zee MGM anytime and you will have a good movie” : Ajay Trigunayat Zee English, Zee MGM vice president

It‘s a quiet revolution. After keeping a low profile for a while, Zee English and Zee MGM, the two niche channels from the Zee stable, are quietly turning over a new leaf. Fresh programmes, a different look and a new feel are all contributing to a slowly rising channel share. Ajay Trigunayat who took over as vice president for the two channels earlier this year is confident that the two channels are headed for a leadership position in their respective genres in the coming year. Indiantelevision.com correspondent Ashwin Pinto met up with Trigunayat last week to get the lowdown on the performance of the two channels on the programming and ad fronts as well as his plans for the future.

When did you assume charge of the channels and what is your brief?

I took charge of the two channels in August 2002 and the brief was to exploit the programming strength and potential. My aim was to convert them into big revenue streams.

Are Zee English, Zee MGM going in for a new look in terms of logo, channel id?

Yes, both the channels are going in for a new look. A new look has already been put on air from this week for Zee MGM. For Zee English, we are not going for a new look right now. We will wait for some time and then proceed. Effectively, we are taking things in various stages and I call it the ‘afterburner‘ approach. We have a clear-cut plan for the next twelve months.

‘After-burner‘ means that everything needs to be worked out in certain stages. So we have worked out various stages for each channel as in what activities will happen and at what stage.

We have changed our promotional strategy. There has been a dramatic difference in the promotions in terms of creative quality before and post August. We said whatever you show on the channel is a symbol by which people live and buy. The way the channel is being represented in terms of graphics, music and on air packaging is not reflecting the desired brand identity of the channel, which is ‘Good Movies At All Times‘. So in mid September, we decided to change packaging altogether. The pneumonic needed to delve in to the brand heritage of MGM. Indians know MGM by the roaring lion and so we decided to bring him back.

The lion was in a laid-back form walking around. We realised that not only did the roar have to come back but also that we needed to reinforce it further. MGM has developed some fantastic creative in the past. We therefore decided that if we were bringing back the roaring lion, let us also use the famous tagline Lions Share of Hollywood.

We are trying to use it in an innovative, creative way rather than merely formatting it. We say lions‘ share of romance, lions‘ share of action, lions‘ share of drama etc. This is critical because MGM might be in a different age and stage in the US or Greece or Latin America. There, though they have moved away from the lion, the consumer has evolved with the lion. There has been a gradual transition from a lion into a woman. The lion is now doing something else like leaping and the woman has taken over. For us, the music score needed to emphasise Good Movies At All Times. The graphics had to be modern. That is why we did not develop the fundamental package here. We requested MGM to develop it for us. We upgraded it here with state-of-the-art facilities. We have completely changed the equipment for the two channels. We also have a new promo director Shret Garnett who has worked in the UK and Dubai for around ten years.

Since the start of the year, how has Zee MGM been faring in the primetime band compared to HBO, Star Movies, Hallmark?

Zee MGM is a channel, which has grown from strength to strength over the past three to four months. The channel has increased connectivity and subscriber base by over 31 per cent. In terms of viewer ship, the channel has increased its channel shares during primetime, which I define as 9-12 pm, from 11 per cent to 24 per cent, which is a significant jump for us. Having said that, we really started the exercise in August. We are trying to reach a point where every rocket is an after burner stage. That would be the point where we take the final quantum leap and I think that we are headed in the right direction. We have extensive spadework for it.

It is easy to see that we will have good movies at all times. If we did not have the 4000 strong library of MGM, this would not have been possible. This is the fundamental difference between a library channel versus a title driven one. Star Movies and HBO are always sourcing movies at all times.

“We are the only ones who are seeding interactive ideas on our channel“

What is the USP of Zee MGM? What does it offer that the Hollywood buff cannot get from the other movie channels?

In August, we did an extensive amount of research to find out exactly where the channel stood. We had two – three obvious findings. What you do with them is not so obvious. The first finding was that both the channels in competition, HBO and Star Movies, are title driven. They spike a week with one or two big titles and intersperse them with a lot of B and C grade movies. On Star, I have seen some third rate Chinese movies. I do not know the reason. At one end of the spectrum, you are talking Mission Impossible and at the other end, you are showing absolute mindless nuisance.

The second finding was that consumers told us that when they watch an English movie channel, they look forward to unreleased and unknown movies in India. These have not been seen in theatres or on the DVD, video circuits. This led to us to the assumption that maybe we should be a channel which plays good movies at all times.

We took the decision to not be a functional or a symbolic brand. We will be an experiential brand. You can watch a good movie at any time and there will be no appointment viewing required in my case. You just zap on to me and you will have a good movie. That is the brand experience we promise our consumer and we work day and night to make this possible.

“We will be an experiential brand. You can watch a good movie at any time and there will be no appointment viewing required in my case“

What new blocks were introduced on Zee MGM, English during 2002? Did any old ones from last year go out?

Another finding was that there is a propensity on the part of the consumer to tune into English movie channels for simple masala and action. Nothing more, nothing less. The viewer expects a high level of energy, intensity to be provided whether it is comedy, action, serious drama, romance. In August we re-negotiated our contract with MGM. Earlier we were playing only MGM movies. On 29 August, we aired the Oscar winner Traffic. In the past, we played movies from the MGM India bank every month without getting too much revenue from the market.

So we split up the entire week into six thematic slots and two flexible slots. The top of the line slot is Romanic Mondays and I am told that in this slot my channel share has gone up by thrice as much. When Harry met Sally, French Kiss air here. The Billy Crystal Meg Ryan movie is equally popular with men, boys, girls. Then there is Thrilling Thursdays. We then pick up a star for Man Fridays and say that this is the man of the week. It is personality driven and could feature Gene Hackman, Kevin Costner, John Travolta. We are looking at creating a woman‘s slot, which would be slightly tongue in cheek. It will have a hot flavour to it but I think that people will buy into that. On Saturdays at 11 pm, we play a bunch of Fun n Frolic movies, which have unfortunately been misunderstood. We call this Sizzling Saturdays.

In October, we had the Woody Allen Festival. In November, we identified that we were not featuring horror, suspense. So we decided to tackle this through movies that have not been released in India like Brain Damage, Monkey Shines. We decided to call this Terror Tuesdays. Whacky Wednesdays sees us turn to offbeat comedies with the likes of Martin Short. We also made the lion yelp in the middle of the promo.

What acquisitions were made this year?

For Zee MGM there was the Carry On series, Pink Panther, The Man in The Iron Mask, Traffic, Get Shorty, Blown Away. Friends, Mad About you were done for Zee English.

Has there been a shift in audience demographic for Zee MGM since the year started?

It has stayed more or less constant. We have had more and more viewers between 15-45 coming into the channel. We have noticed that the age group 35-45 warms to certain films like Woody Allen‘s Annie Hall. It is difficult for an 18 year old to understand what it is all about as it is an acquired taste.

There is the feeling that although Zee English‘s programmes are better it is lagging behind Star World in terms of look, feel? Has any progress been made?

When I took on Zee English I found that it had perceptibly different and demonstrable programming strengths from the competition. We have Friends, Seinfeld, Sopranos, The West Wing. The programming was already working for the channel except that the image of the channel was that it is for fuddy duddies. We noticed that viewership was on our side but people felt that something was wrong with the FPC.

The problem with the channel was that it suffered from an inconsistent brand adage. Its brand identity is now fixed which you see day in and day out. Zee English was conceived to feature the world‘s best programmes suited to the Indian consumer taste and expectation. Star World and AXN are catering to an audience not just in India but also to viewers in Philippines, Malaysia, Singapore. Dark Angel and Buffy The Vampire Slayer may be popular in those countries but do not quite gel with the Indian viewer. They prefer fine political drama in the form of The West Wing. Also our programmes have won maximum number of Emmies – the television equivalent of the Oscars.

The look is contemporary. Programmes like Fresh Prince of Bel Air might look old but there are family and teenage audiences that tune in. Seinfeld is a discerning comedy and there is also the slapstick kind. We do a mix and match. What we did for Zee English is to put all the graphic elements which were already available but which had not yet been used into place like new fonts. Every promo has a time and day, which is standardised across the channel.

We tinkered only slightly with the FPC. When Friends aired at 10:30 pm, channel share was 55 per cent between 9-12 pm. So we decided to put it back on weekdays, which is Monday-Thursday at 10 pm. Our agency Madison did an analysis. The highest PUT slot for AXN, Star World and Zee English is 10 pm. We were advised that at the time when there the number of viewers is maximum, you put in your best programme. If the competition has something better, then maybe we will shift it around.

We do not repeat a programme excessively, just three times which is the normal international average.

In terms of ratings, how is Zee English faring vis-a-vis Star World and AXN?

As far as ratings are concerned, the International people meter system is not designed to measure unique content channels. TAM says that the current panel is not enough. The next panel plans to increase coverage from 3200 to 5400 households claiming to measure us more accurately.

For a while, people were with Star World until the new kid on the block came along which gave you a diverse array of shows. Who do you think people are watching right now? Everywhere I go people say “I watch only you”.

TAM data provided is only for Mumbai and Delhi. Insufficient data is available for any other city. When I do a contest on Friends I get as many responses from the South as I do from the North and West. I am not trying to bad-mouth anyone. These are not only my problems. These are also my media planning problems. I do my brand perception score results and I take them to my media partners. They say you are right but they cannot compare a .10 to a .15 as it is negligible

Around how many new advertisers did the channels succeed in attracting this year? What is the pitch being made to the ad community and have any revenue targets been set?

Sales have gone up appreciably. Recent brands that have come on board include Mastercard, Kodak, Scorpio, Hero Honda, and Celebration Diamonds. We are looking at tripling ad revenues as compared to what we did last year.

Our pitch to advertisers is that we have a functional strength in terms of programming. Any other strength in terms of broadcasting like brand per se can be built in two to three months‘ time. You cannot build demonstrable programming strength in such a short period. It will take at least a year to do so. We have rejected shows similar to Alias, which I could have picked up for one-fifth my programming budget. I did not do so as it does not meet out programming standards. We try to balance superlative comedies and dramas with programmes that Indians can relate to. To give you an example Mad About You brilliantly captures the nuances of a young urban married couple especially in today‘s context.

What new marketing initiatives were used this year like radio, online, theatre and when did they kick off?

We have worked out a completely new network promotional strategy for Zee English. Before becoming business head I was in marketing where I had more time to delve into the way the consumer interacts with television programmes. We did research as to why a consumer watches a particular programme. We aggregated all the scores and found that 94 per cent of the consumers came in to see a programme because the source of information was television. Not online, not print, not outdoor. That is when we realised that we are not optimising the usage of our network to promote our programmes.

The first test case we did was for Miss Universe which last year had a rating of 1.1 in Delhi. We had spent around 35-45 lakhs on outdoor promotions in Mumbai, Bangalore, Chennai and Delhi. Promos were done across the network for a month.

This year we advertised the event on the network. We did not do a single piece of print. We did just one hoarding as it came to us free of cost. The result was that we had a TRP of up to 2.47 in Delhi. This is excellent when you consider the fact that Miss India did not win this year. We did promos for only five days 24-29 May and not four weeks. If I tell you to watch something this Sunday I am giving you relevant information and relevant time to make an appointment. If I tell you to watch something after a month you will not be interested.

“When I took over, the programming was working for the channel except that the image was that the channel is for fuddy duddies“

Are you planning to introduce interactive initiatives on the two channels?

We are the only ones who are seeding interactive ideas on our channel. We do a contest every month with contests2win.com. For Friends we did a media alliance with Indiatimes and The Times of India.

We have also done media alliances with a couple of magazines. If you put a value to the number of spots I run across the network it is around 40-50 lakhs a month. If I am not doing justice to that then I feel that I am actually putting money down the drain.

We are doing online activities with MGM where we have a Dress Circle. This month it features Man In the Iron Mask. Interactivity to me is really the engagement factor that you are building with the consumer. The engagement factor between television and the Internet is much lower than television and SMS. 8888 on indiatimes fetches us more responses.

We have demonstrable facts and figures on the response rates, which we have taken to advertisers and they have been willing to pay for it. We used to do seeding, interactivity on the channel free of cost. It is starting to pay dividends. I still have not completely recovered the cost but my view is lets be ready for the future and I expect to break even here six-seven months down the line. We experimented, failed and learnt from our mistakes. We now know which creative works better, what to reinforce in the contest.

What are your future plans for the two channels?

In January, we are bringing Robert DeNiro‘s Jacknife. This is unreleased and kind of unknown. People will watch it for the storyline. We have to create the trailer, promote it.

We will have an Indian festival on Zee MGM next month. We have identified that Indian English movies are here to stay with the success of The Guru. Of course new movies like Monsoon Wedding will go through extensive negotiations. Star Movies and HBO may also be thinking along these lines. Movies that we will air include A Passage to India, Shadow of the Cobra, East is East. These will air on Tuesdays at 9 pm.

We have created a Movie Marathon where we play classics including the likes of Silence of The Lambs, Blame It On Rio. We are also going to feature the German film Run Lola Run at the end of January. For Zee English we will be adding on four programmes next month. We will be taking a fresh approach. The tendency for a channel is to see what has been a hit in the US. We see shows that have run for just ten episodes, which we feel will be a big hit in the future. So they are just right out of the oven for Zee English. Season 9 of Friends airs in the US in February. We will bring it in June. If anyone wants to air Season 8 they can do so from the second half of 2004. Mad About You will enter its third season on the 17th. Seinfeld is entering its last season on 23 December.

Are you not concerned that the Cricket World Cup will reduce the number of potential viewers for your new programme initiatives.

I think that there is a fever and it is sweeping people. The day India beat England in the ODI Natwest Final just 22 per cent of people watching television at that point of time saw the match at all. Out of that, only eight per cent saw it for over three hours. The thing is that we tend to get swayed away unnecessarily. We have a different kind of viewer base. You cannot really stop your plans and rollout because the World Cup is happening.

Give me your opinion on CAS.

CAS puts power into the hands of the consumer. I think that Zee English in particular stands very well because I think that today people are willing to pay a premium for it and for Zee MGM also. Ad revenue will get affected only if connectivity and viewer ship get hit. I don‘t see an immediate problem per se and there are a lot of ifs and buts involved like how the players are going to react.

There is a huge investment involved on the part of the cable operators to make CAS possible. Who is going to pay for set top boxes? Are the cable operators going to pass on the cost to the consumer or will they absorb it?

December 21, 2002

“Zap on to Zee MGM anytime and you will have a good movie” : Zee English, Zee MGM vice president Ajay Trigunayat

It’s a quiet revolution. After keeping a low profile for a while, Zee English and Zee MGM, the two niche channels from the Zee stable, are quietly turning over a new leaf. Fresh programmes, a different look and a new feel are all contributing to a slowly rising channel share. Ajay Trigunayat who took over as vice president for the two channels earlier this year is confident that the two channels are headed for a leadership position in their respective genres in the coming year. Indiantelevision.com correspondent Ashwin Pinto met up with Trigunayat last week to get the lowdown on the performance of the two channels on the programming and ad fronts as well as his plans for the future.

When did you assume charge of the channels and what is your brief?
I took charge of the two channels in August 2002 and the brief was to exploit the programming strength and potential. My aim was to convert them into big revenue streams.

Are Zee English, Zee MGM going in for a new look in terms of logo, channel id?
Yes, both the channels are going in for a new look. A new look has already been put on air from this week for Zee MGM. For Zee English, we are not going for a new look right now. We will wait for some time and then proceed. Effectively, we are taking things in various stages and I call it the ‘afterburner’ approach. We have a clear-cut plan for the next twelve months.

‘After-burner’ means that everything needs to be worked out in certain stages. So we have worked out various stages for each channel as in what activities will happen and at what stage.

We have changed our promotional strategy. There has been a dramatic difference in the promotions in terms of creative quality before and post August. We said whatever you show on the channel is a symbol by which people live and buy. The way the channel is being represented in terms of graphics, music and on air packaging is not reflecting the desired brand identity of the channel, which is ‘Good Movies At All Times’. So in mid September, we decided to change packaging altogether. The pneumonic needed to delve in to the brand heritage of MGM. Indians know MGM by the roaring lion and so we decided to bring him back.

The lion was in a laid-back form walking around. We realised that not only did the roar have to come back but also that we needed to reinforce it further. MGM has developed some fantastic creative in the past. We therefore decided that if we were bringing back the roaring lion, let us also use the famous tagline Lions Share of Hollywood.

We are trying to use it in an innovative, creative way rather than merely formatting it. We say lions’ share of romance, lions’ share of action, lions’ share of drama etc. This is critical because MGM might be in a different age and stage in the US or Greece or Latin America. There, though they have moved away from the lion, the consumer has evolved with the lion. There has been a gradual transition from a lion into a woman. The lion is now doing something else like leaping and the woman has taken over. For us, the music score needed to emphasise Good Movies At All Times. The graphics had to be modern. That is why we did not develop the fundamental package here. We requested MGM to develop it for us. We upgraded it here with state-of-the-art facilities. We have completely changed the equipment for the two channels. We also have a new promo director Shret Garnett who has worked in the UK and Dubai for around ten years.

Since the start of the year, how has Zee MGM been faring in the primetime band compared to HBO, Star Movies, Hallmark?
Zee MGM is a channel, which has grown from strength to strength over the past three to four months. The channel has increased connectivity and subscriber base by over 31 per cent. In terms of viewer ship, the channel has increased its channel shares during primetime, which I define as 9-12 pm, from 11 per cent to 24 per cent, which is a significant jump for us. Having said that, we really started the exercise in August. We are trying to reach a point where every rocket is an after burner stage. That would be the point where we take the final quantum leap and I think that we are headed in the right direction. We have extensive spadework for it.

It is easy to see that we will have good movies at all times. If we did not have the 4000 strong library of MGM, this would not have been possible. This is the fundamental difference between a library channel versus a title driven one. Star Movies and HBO are always sourcing movies at all times.

“We are the only ones who are seeding interactive ideas on our channel“

What is the USP of Zee MGM? What does it offer that the Hollywood buff cannot get from the other movie channels?
In August, we did an extensive amount of research to find out exactly where the channel stood. We had two – three obvious findings. What you do with them is not so obvious. The first finding was that both the channels in competition, HBO and Star Movies, are title driven. They spike a week with one or two big titles and intersperse them with a lot of B and C grade movies. On Star, I have seen some third rate Chinese movies. I do not know the reason. At one end of the spectrum, you are talking Mission Impossible and at the other end, you are showing absolute mindless nuisance.

The second finding was that consumers told us that when they watch an English movie channel, they look forward to unreleased and unknown movies in India. These have not been seen in theatres or on the DVD, video circuits. This led to us to the assumption that maybe we should be a channel which plays good movies at all times.

We took the decision to not be a functional or a symbolic brand. We will be an experiential brand. You can watch a good movie at any time and there will be no appointment viewing required in my case. You just zap on to me and you will have a good movie. That is the brand experience we promise our consumer and we work day and night to make this possible.

“We will be an experiential brand. You can watch a good movie at any time and there will be no appointment viewing required in my case“

What new blocks were introduced on Zee MGM, English during 2002? Did any old ones from last year go out?
Another finding was that there is a propensity on the part of the consumer to tune into English movie channels for simple masala and action. Nothing more, nothing less. The viewer expects a high level of energy, intensity to be provided whether it is comedy, action, serious drama, romance. In August we re-negotiated our contract with MGM. Earlier we were playing only MGM movies. On 29 August, we aired the Oscar winner Traffic. In the past, we played movies from the MGM India bank every month without getting too much revenue from the market.

So we split up the entire week into six thematic slots and two flexible slots. The top of the line slot is Romanic Mondays and I am told that in this slot my channel share has gone up by thrice as much. When Harry met Sally, French Kiss air here. The Billy Crystal Meg Ryan movie is equally popular with men, boys, girls. Then there is Thrilling Thursdays. We then pick up a star for Man Fridays and say that this is the man of the week. It is personality driven and could feature Gene Hackman, Kevin Costner, John Travolta. We are looking at creating a woman’s slot, which would be slightly tongue in cheek. It will have a hot flavour to it but I think that people will buy into that. On Saturdays at 11 pm, we play a bunch of Fun n Frolic movies, which have unfortunately been misunderstood. We call this Sizzling Saturdays.

In October, we had the Woody Allen Festival. In November, we identified that we were not featuring horror, suspense. So we decided to tackle this through movies that have not been released in India like Brain Damage, Monkey Shines. We decided to call this Terror Tuesdays. Whacky Wednesdays sees us turn to offbeat comedies with the likes of Martin Short. We also made the lion yelp in the middle of the promo.

What acquisitions were made this year?
For Zee MGM there was the Carry On series, Pink Panther, The Man in The Iron Mask, Traffic, Get Shorty, Blown Away. Friends, Mad About you were done for Zee English.

Has there been a shift in audience demographic for Zee MGM since the year started?
It has stayed more or less constant. We have had more and more viewers between 15-45 coming into the channel. We have noticed that the age group 35-45 warms to certain films like Woody Allen’s Annie Hall. It is difficult for an 18 year old to understand what it is all about as it is an acquired taste.

There is the feeling that although Zee English’s programmes are better it is lagging behind Star World in terms of look, feel? Has any progress been made?

When I took on Zee English I found that it had perceptibly different and demonstrable programming strengths from the competition. We have Friends, Seinfeld, Sopranos, The West Wing. The programming was already working for the channel except that the image of the channel was that it is for fuddy duddies. We noticed that viewership was on our side but people felt that something was wrong with the FPC.

The problem with the channel was that it suffered from an inconsistent brand adage. Its brand identity is now fixed which you see day in and day out. Zee English was conceived to feature the world’s best programmes suited to the Indian consumer taste and expectation. Star World and AXN are catering to an audience not just in India but also to viewers in Philippines, Malaysia, Singapore. Dark Angel and Buffy The Vampire Slayer may be popular in those countries but do not quite gel with the Indian viewer. They prefer fine political drama in the form of The West Wing. Also our programmes have won maximum number of Emmies – the television equivalent of the Oscars.

The look is contemporary. Programmes like Fresh Prince of Bel Air might look old but there are family and teenage audiences that tune in. Seinfeld is a discerning comedy and there is also the slapstick kind. We do a mix and match. What we did for Zee English is to put all the graphic elements which were already available but which had not yet been used into place like new fonts. Every promo has a time and day, which is standardised across the channel.

We tinkered only slightly with the FPC. When Friends aired at 10:30 pm, channel share was 55 per cent between 9-12 pm. So we decided to put it back on weekdays, which is Monday-Thursday at 10 pm. Our agency Madison did an analysis. The highest PUT slot for AXN, Star World and Zee English is 10 pm. We were advised that at the time when there the number of viewers is maximum, you put in your best programme. If the competition has something better, then maybe we will shift it around.

We do not repeat a programme excessively, just three times which is the normal international average.

In terms of ratings, how is Zee English faring vis-a-vis Star World and AXN?
As far as ratings are concerned, the International people meter system is not designed to measure unique content channels. TAM says that the current panel is not enough. The next panel plans to increase coverage from 3200 to 5400 households claiming to measure us more accurately.

For a while, people were with Star World until the new kid on the block came along which gave you a diverse array of shows. Who do you think people are watching right now? Everywhere I go people say “I watch only you”.

TAM data provided is only for Mumbai and Delhi. Insufficient data is available for any other city. When I do a contest on Friends I get as many responses from the South as I do from the North and West. I am not trying to bad-mouth anyone. These are not only my problems. These are also my media planning problems. I do my brand perception score results and I take them to my media partners. They say you are right but they cannot compare a .10 to a .15 as it is negligible

Around how many new advertisers did the channels succeed in attracting this year? What is the pitch being made to the ad community and have any revenue targets been set?
Sales have gone up appreciably. Recent brands that have come on board include Mastercard, Kodak, Scorpio, Hero Honda, and Celebration Diamonds. We are looking at tripling ad revenues as compared to what we did last year.

Our pitch to advertisers is that we have a functional strength in terms of programming. Any other strength in terms of broadcasting like brand per se can be built in two to three months’ time. You cannot build demonstrable programming strength in such a short period. It will take at least a year to do so. We have rejected shows similar to Alias, which I could have picked up for one-fifth my programming budget. I did not do so as it does not meet out programming standards. We try to balance superlative comedies and dramas with programmes that Indians can relate to. To give you an example Mad About You brilliantly captures the nuances of a young urban married couple especially in today’s context.

What new marketing initiatives were used this year like radio, online, theatre and when did they kick off?
We have worked out a completely new network promotional strategy for Zee English. Before becoming business head I was in marketing where I had more time to delve into the way the consumer interacts with television programmes. We did research as to why a consumer watches a particular programme. We aggregated all the scores and found that 94 per cent of the consumers came in to see a programme because the source of information was television. Not online, not print, not outdoor. That is when we realised that we are not optimising the usage of our network to promote our programmes.

The first test case we did was for Miss Universe which last year had a rating of 1.1 in Delhi. We had spent around 35-45 lakhs on outdoor promotions in Mumbai, Bangalore, Chennai and Delhi. Promos were done across the network for a month.

This year we advertised the event on the network. We did not do a single piece of print. We did just one hoarding as it came to us free of cost. The result was that we had a TRP of up to 2.47 in Delhi. This is excellent when you consider the fact that Miss India did not win this year. We did promos for only five days 24-29 May and not four weeks. If I tell you to watch something this Sunday I am giving you relevant information and relevant time to make an appointment. If I tell you to watch something after a month you will not be interested.

“When I took over, the programming was working for the channel except that the image was that the channel is for fuddy duddies“

Are you planning to introduce interactive initiatives on the two channels?
We are the only ones who are seeding interactive ideas on our channel. We do a contest every month with contests2win.com. For Friends we did a media alliance with Indiatimes and The Times of India.

We have also done media alliances with a couple of magazines. If you put a value to the number of spots I run across the network it is around 40-50 lakhs a month. If I am not doing justice to that then I feel that I am actually putting money down the drain.

We are doing online activities with MGM where we have a Dress Circle. This month it features Man In the Iron Mask. Interactivity to me is really the engagement factor that you are building with the consumer. The engagement factor between television and the Internet is much lower than television and SMS. 8888 on indiatimes fetches us more responses.

We have demonstrable facts and figures on the response rates, which we have taken to advertisers and they have been willing to pay for it. We used to do seeding, interactivity on the channel free of cost. It is starting to pay dividends. I still have not completely recovered the cost but my view is lets be ready for the future and I expect to break even here six-seven months down the line. We experimented, failed and learnt from our mistakes. We now know which creative works better, what to reinforce in the contest.

What are your future plans for the two channels?
In January, we are bringing Robert DeNiro’s Jacknife. This is unreleased and kind of unknown. People will watch it for the storyline. We have to create the trailer, promote it.

We will have an Indian festival on Zee MGM next month. We have identified that Indian English movies are here to stay with the success of The Guru. Of course new movies like Monsoon Wedding will go through extensive negotiations. Star Movies and HBO may also be thinking along these lines. Movies that we will air include A Passage to India, Shadow of the Cobra, East is East. These will air on Tuesdays at 9 pm.

We have created a Movie Marathon where we play classics including the likes of Silence of The Lambs, Blame It On Rio. We are also going to feature the German film Run Lola Run at the end of January. For Zee English we will be adding on four programmes next month. We will be taking a fresh approach. The tendency for a channel is to see what has been a hit in the US. We see shows that have run for just ten episodes, which we feel will be a big hit in the future. So they are just right out of the oven for Zee English. Season 9 of Friends airs in the US in February. We will bring it in June. If anyone wants to air Season 8 they can do so from the second half of 2004. Mad About You will enter its third season on the 17th. Seinfeld is entering its last season on 23 December.

Are you not concerned that the Cricket World Cup will reduce the number of potential viewers for your new programme initiatives.
I think that there is a fever and it is sweeping people. The day India beat England in the ODI Natwest Final just 22 per cent of people watching television at that point of time saw the match at all. Out of that, only eight per cent saw it for over three hours. The thing is that we tend to get swayed away unnecessarily. We have a different kind of viewer base. You cannot really stop your plans and rollout because the World Cup is happening.

Give me your opinion on CAS.
CAS puts power into the hands of the consumer. I think that Zee English in particular stands very well because I think that today people are willing to pay a premium for it and for Zee MGM also. Ad revenue will get affected only if connectivity and viewer ship get hit. I don’t see an immediate problem per se and there are a lot of ifs and buts involved like how the players are going to react.

There is a huge investment involved on the part of the cable operators to make CAS possible. Who is going to pay for set top boxes? Are the cable operators going to pass on the cost to the consumer or will they absorb it?

December 21, 2002

Tag: Zee MGM