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'Zee channels to be accessible without cable connection'

The second day of the Global Investors' Meet, or GIM, conference witnessed hectic activity with lively discussions and brain-storming sessions marked by exciting announcements by Zee Group and BPL Telecom, and encouraging news for the state government with enquiries and investment proposals pouring in.

After unfolding Zee's future plans, Zee Group chairman Subhash Chandra announced here on Tuesday that around 15 channels, including Zee Television's own 5-6 channels, would be available on C-band from the third week of this month, facilitating direct viewing by the people even without a cable connection.

"Though the much-awaited Direct-To-Home, or DTH, broadcasting has not been allowed by the government till date, Zee Television will be launching later this month a bouquet of channels on the C-band that can be received directly in your homes. The state-of-the-art digital service will be qualitatively different from the present broadcasting which is beamed from the S-band," Chandra affirmed.

Chandra, however, declined to disclose the investments going into the C-band channels, and the names of other channels, which will be joining the Zee's string of channels. "We are talking to the new players like Nickelodeon to offer the service on DTH lines. The number will go up to 40-50 channels by the year-end as converging technologies sweep the broadcasting medium," he affirmed.

Chandra also announced during his presentation on the 'Perspectives in the media entertainment industry' that Zee Television would launch by April next year an exclusive channel with an acronym for 'best' to offer 'basic education support television' programme aiming at rural India.

"We will begin experimentally in Maharashtra's 200 villages to offer literacy programmes in Hindi and Marathi in coordination with government agencies and non-governmental organisations and will expand it to other states and in other vernacular languages to kick-start a mass literacy campaign."

If we succeed in the venture, the cost of educating a rural child will not only be lower, but also effective in terms of receptivity as learning will be more easy and rewarding. "Zee proposes to give away free television and battery sets to every village for attracting the children towards education."

The philosophy of Zee Group was to give something back to the society so that the have-nots can also be brought into the mainstream by improving the standard of their living. The only way to make the rural masses catch up with their brethren in the urban areas or metros is make them literate and bring about a sea-change in the quality of life, claimed Chandra.

"This can be achieved by taking education to them through a medium that is accessible and affordable. Once they are educated and learn to be stand on their own legs, they will begin to look out for products and services being consumed by urban Indians."

At this rate, the country can witness a quantum jump in the number of consumers for products and services from an urban-oriented middle-class strength of 250 million to about 700 million by the end of the decade, he added.

Yesterday, Zee Telefilms signed an MoU with the Karnataka government for the right of way to lay an optic fibre cable network, or OFCN, across the state. The MoU was signed by ZTL general manager (commercial) Rajiv Khattar and IT secretary Vivek Kulkarni on behalf of the state government.

"Zee will be investing about Rs 6 billion in building a hybrid optical fibre/co-axial cable network in Karnataka alone. The OFCN will cover a cable length of 1,000 lines in the first phase, and will be scheduled to be completed by the year-end. The project will form a part of Zee's greater plan to eventually wire over 100 cities across the country with the network."

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