MUMBAI: After creating success stories with two Bollywood channels in the APAC region, namely Zee Bioskop in Indonesia and Zee Nung in Thailand, Zee Entertainment Enterprises Limited (ZEEL) becomes the first Indian company to foray into Philippines with its third dedicated Bollywood movie channel for the local Filipino audience starting today.
Announcing ZEE’s entry into the Philippines, International Broadcast Business, ZEEL International broadcast business CEO Amit Goenka said, “ZEE has been the cultural ambassador for Bollywood and Indian content in overseas markets. In line with our Vision 2020 goals, we have chalked out an aggressive international expansion plan, with APAC being one of the key regions. We already have 5 dedicated localized channels in APAC, comprising of GEC and movie genres, and our entry into Philippines will only further strengthen our presence. With the Pay-TV industry projected to grow at an average of 13% Y-o-Y in the next 5 years, we see huge potential in this market.”
Zee Sine – Bollywood Na Tayo (‘Sine’ means ‘Cinema’ and ‘Bollywood Na Tayo’ means ‘Let’s Go Bollywood’ in Tagalog) is a 24/7 Bollywood movie channel customized and packaged for the local audience. The channel features Blockbuster movies from the World’s Biggest Hindi Film Library of ZEEL.
Speaking on the launch of Zee Sine, ZEEL Asia Pacific business head Sushruta Samanta said, “Both India and Philippines display strong affinity for music and dance. Our research shows that Indian Bollywood Films are relatable as the stories hit close to home, reflecting similar emotions and values shown in Filipino movies. While other content from around the world has entered Philippines already, we plan to bring a fresh and unique perspective by launching Zee Sine in Philippines. We felt it is the right time for us to enter this market and showcase our heart-warming and larger-than-life Bollywood movies to the Filipino audience.”
“Maria Liza Ginting, who currently heads our Indonesia market, will also be heading the Philippines operations along with the local team in Manila,” Samanta further added.
Sharing more details on the channel, Maria Liza Young – Ginting, Country Head, Indonesia & Philippines said, “Zee Sine will take you to a new world of entertainment with high-voltage Bollywood dramas, love triangles, comedies and song and dance. To reach out to the local audience, we have hand-picked movies from the library, dubbed in Tagalog, re-christened movie titles and character names in English while promos and special movie properties are being locally created. The channel is being distributed through one of the leading cable distributors in the country, Cable Boss, and will soon be available on more platforms in the market.”
The channel will be showcased at PCTA (Philippine Cable TV Association Inc.) Convention 2016, which is one of the biggest Pay-TV operators conventions in Philippines, to be held between 12-15 April, 2016.
As the channel goes on-air today, Zee Sine promises to entertain Philippines the Bollywood way.
Anil Wanvari is the Founder, CEO and editor in chief of the Indiantelevision.com group. He is also the representative of Reed Midem’s MipTV, MipCom, and Midem for India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, apart from representing the Singapore-based Asia Television Forum for the same territories. We reached out to Anil to get his views, insights on what the bestowing of the Medailles d’ Honneur on Zee TV’s Punit and Amit Goenka means for the group and also for the nation as a whole.