Of all the South Indian language markets, the Tamil TV channel space is the most crowded, and aggressively fought. It is also the most lucrative. Currently, there are more than 25 channels in Tamil.
Tamil Nadu accounts for 8% (approximately Rs 690 Crores) of the national advertising spends.
Several broadcasters have - in the recent past - stayed away from the Tamil market, finding the business too high cost and risky. They have preferred to address the Telugu, Malayalam and Kannada TV segments instead.
ZEE TAMIZH
On Sunday Oct 12, Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd. launched its new Tamil language regional channel - Zee Tamizh. Explaining the launch, Punit Goenka, Director, Zee Group, said "Tamil is one of the biggest markets."
This is Zee Network's 33d channel and third in the South, after Telugu and Kannada.
Zee Tamizh is infact Zee's second attempt at a Tamil channel. Several years ago, the group had launched Zee Bharathi. The channel primarily offered dubbed content in Tamil, and that did not do well. The channel was withdrawn in a few months.
CONTENT
This time around, Zee has promised to invest heavily in content. According to Mr Punit Goenka, CEO, Zee Entertainment, the company has invested around Rs 100 Crore in this venture, and most of which has gone into content procurement. Zee Tamizh, hopes to break even in 3 years.
Zee Tamizh's Business Head V Chandrasekaar Barathi told the press that Zee Tamizh had a "good library" of movies and the broadcasting rights of 40% of the Tamil films released this year so far had been procured.
To draw viewers in this aggressive market, Zee Tamizh has lined up movies, mega serials, game and reality shows, music programmes and cultural shows.
NEWS TOO
Besides entertainment, Zee Tamizh will also provide 3 news bulletins, every day. "With 3 news bulletins a day, it will be a complete entertainment channel," says Mr V. Chandrasekaar, Senior Vice-President and Business Head, Zee Tamizh.
In Tamil Nadu, most channels are politically aligned, and one wonders if the news bulletins will provide leverage for the new channel to survive in this market.
PAY CHANNEL
Zee Tamizh was launched as a pay channel. However, no reliable news was available on the monthly asking price of the channel.
DISTRIBUTION
TV channel distribution has always been a major hurdle in Tamil Nadu. The Tamil TV market is dominated by the Maran-owned SUN Group. SUN TV's channels account for 45% of all viewership, and SUN's Sumangali Cable Vision (SCV) is a dominant player in the ground distribution business in the state.
Predictably, Zee Tamizh does not have carriage on the SCV network.
While Zee Tamizh is offered and promoted by the Zee Group's DTH platform - DishTV, competing DTH platform - TataSky has refused to carry the channel.
The state government's Arasu Cable TV Corporation, which badly needs to grow its bouquet, is carrying Zee's 33rd channel.
LOOKING AHEAD
The road ahead for Zee Tamizh will be rough. Statewide carriage on SUN TV's Sumangali Cable Vision will be an uphill task.
Content will also be an area that will need attention. Zee's earlier attempt rode roughshod on dubbed content and failed. While Zee is already into Tamil movie production - the first one is to be released shortly - the movies are primarily for theatrical release.
While Zee is a goliath in its own right, it has a poor presence in the Tamil market.
Will it succeed, second time around ? n
