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MUMBAI:
Zee Group chairman Subhash Chandra will go all out to back
Zee Next in the current fiscal. The flanking channel of Zee
TV will have a peak investment of Rs 3 billion, indicating
that Hindi general entertainment channels have to spend more
on programming and marketing due to a fierce competition in
the marketplace.
"There
is a full-blown expansion plan for Zee Next over the next
two months. The focus will be on programming and distribution.
The channel's peak investment requirement is Rs 3 billion
on the channel," says a source in the company.
Zee
Next was launched in December 2007, but failed to make much
impact as it faced distribution problems. Zee TV's sibling
channel also had less hours of original programming. "We
will be spending more money on distribution and are also increasing
original content on the channel," the source adds.
On
the regional front, Zee will be launching its Tamil general
entertainment channel by July-end with an investment plan
of Rs 900 million. Zee has already started buying Tamil movies
even as it prepares to enter the most difficult turf in South
India with Sun Network dominating the market.
Zee
expects the new business losses for FY'09 to be around Rs
600 million. "The losses from the existing new businesses
including the Telugu and Kannada channel will come down to
Rs 150 million in the fiscal. But there will be new losses
from the Tamil channel," the source explains.
Zee
expects the Tamil channel to break even in three years. The
Telugu and Kannada channels have started generating pay revenues
from the last quarter of FY'08. "Zee News Ltd is targeting
a higher growth of 40 per cent in subscription revenues in
the current fiscal. The company will be adding a Tamil channel.
Besides, the other two southern language channels have started
getting pay revenues. We expect the company's advertising
income to grow by 30 per cent," the source says.
Zee
Entertainment Enterprises Ltd (Zeel) expects to continue its
strong growth in FY'09. The company has given a guidance of
30 per cent growth in advertising as well as subscription
revenues in the current fiscal, the source says.
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