Mumbai : Zee TV has partnered with SES Platform Services to launch a new Indian TV channel in Germany. The free-to-air channel, available from July, will broadcast top-end movies and drama series round the clock. Friederike Behrends will overhead business operations in the German-speaking area.
Set to be called Zee One, the free-to-air network will be available in both SD and HD via SES satellites. The channel is expected to reach 18 million households in Germany, as well as 2.5 million German-speaking households in Austria and Switzerland. It will feature Bollywood films, as well as popular Indian TV series 24 hours a day.
Christoph Muehleib, the VP of sales for Europe, at SES Platform Services, said: “We are very pleased to be part of this exciting endeavor. Germany is the largest FTA market in Europe. With a reach of 18 million in Germany, we serve the majority of TV homes, plus millions of German-speaking viewers throughout Europe.”
Neeraj Dhingra, the CEO for Europe at Asia TV Ltd. (Zee TV), said: “We are looking forward to the launch of Zee One into one of the world’s most important television markets. As yet, the Bollywood genre is still barely represented, so enhancing Germany’s entertainment offerings by introducing an entirely new genre will transform the viewers’ TV experience.”
Behrends said, “Bollywood content offers a much broader spectrum than is known on German television. The aim is to enhance Germany´s entertainment offerings by introducing an entirely new genre. We intend to capture the hearts of German viewers with Bollywood. We are currently engaged in intensive talks with German TV-platform operators with a view to expanding the reach as quickly as possible on a broad scale via all transmission paths.”
Zee One’s core target group will be females between the ages of 19 and 59.
