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| Zee Network launches Zee Next | |
| Ashish Mitra Fifteen years after it was first launched, Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd. (ZEEL) finally launched a second GEC (general entertainment channel). With this launch it now joins other channel groups such as STAR and Sony, which already have a second GEC. Going on air on December 17 with five new shows running across diverse genres, Zee is an attempt to provide something refreshing to the audiences. "These days most of the serials on air feature families of which every member of the family schemes against each other. I don't think in real life one comes across such a family. All this is shown to garner eyeballs towards the channel. Once in place, these programmes take such a turn by which viewers are made to sympathise with the person harrased or tortured. And then when the character gets a reprieve, the audience feels a sense of relief. But take it from me Zee will not have any such programmes to air," asserted Subhash Chandra, CEO, Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd. in his opening address accompanied by a thunderous applause. In keeping with this philosophy, the launch of the channel will coincide with the airing of five new shows Ek Thi Rajkumari, Jhoome Jiiya Re, Yahaan Ke Hum Sikander, Pyar Ishq Mohabbat and Simplly Sapney. The shows will be produced by leading TV production houses like DJ's that made shows like Banegi Apni Baat and Jassi Jaissi Koi Nahin), BAG Films, Cinevistaas and Milind Soman's Face Entertainment. In a candid conversation, Tarun Mehra, operating head of Zee , dismissed the fact that Zee TV was trailing other channels as far as a second GEC is concerned. "We haven't launched a channel just for the sake of it. We want to see our new channel in the top three spots with the passage of time. Through research we found that the choice of today's audiences has become quite wide. For example, in a single household, one has audiences who want to watch characters like Vidya and Saloni while at the same time there are others who want to show stories related in a different style. With Zee , we are making a sincere attempt to cater to the wide choice of the audience,'' said Mehra. "The channel is set to showcase a wide array of lives of individuals from an outdoor perspective and will host genres ranging from thrillers to comedy, reality fiction and action amongst others. Zee is basically a younger sister of Zee TV in which the content will be more or less the same; only the treatment will be different," he added. Going into facts Mehra quipped, "As far as second entertainment channels of other major players are concerned, none are performing as well as their first sibling. For instance, STAR's second channel, STAR One, is nowhere in the race; STAR Plus, Zee TV and Sony fill up the first three spots, while the rest follow distantly behind. Sony Entertainment Television's recent acquisition of SAB has only resulted in SAB switching identity from comedy to youth and now to a more mature channel with English-dubbed programmes, without climbing any further on the popularity charts. Our channel isn't joining the race to fill in a final few places as most other second channels are doing." |
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