Mumbai : ZEE Network will be launching its new entertainment channel, &TV in the UK next month.
The channel, which stormed into Indian television ratings in its first week of launch, will replace nostalgic offering, Lamhe on Sky Digital and Virgin Media. ‘&TV’ will be launched on Monday 6th April at 19:00 hours.
The channel will be offered as a Free-to-Air (FTA) channel for UK audience and its business model will be based on ad sales revenue. This is due to the recent trend of all Indian channels converting from paid Subscription to FTA concept due to the dropping trend in paid subscription and decent revenues from the advertisements.
&TV programming consists of flagship show hosted by King Khan, ‘India Poochega – Sabse Shaana Kaun?’, plus strong fiction shows like ‘Razia Sultan’, ‘Bhaghyalakshmi’, ‘Gangaa’, ‘Begusarai’, ‘Bhabi Ji Ghar Par Hai!’, and weekend offerings like ‘Killer Karaoke’ and ‘Tujhse Naaraaz Nahi Zindagi’.
Plans are underway to introduce &TV in the UK in presence of Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan along with the ZEEL’s MD & CEO Punith Goenka and ”&TV” Business Head Rajesh Iyer in London later this month.
ZEE Network UK has recently been working on innovative new concepts to lure viewers from rival channels. Recently, overhauling Zing UK, launching live show ‘ZEE Companion’, striking a deal with Sky for Sky Asia Pack and now &TV have been initiatives under the helm of ZEE UK/Europe territory head, Neeraj Dhingra and Deputy, Parul Goel.