The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh News : Zee Telugu on a roll out of the box

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Monday, Jan 14, 2008
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Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh

Zee Telugu on a roll out of the box

Sanjay Reddy

Three months is a short time to give a makeover to a channel but Sanjay Reddy looks back with certain contentment. As the Zee Telugu head, his efforts appear to be yielding the desired fruits and the channel has started regaining some of its lost ground.

In the reckoning

There is a palpable growth in terms of viewership and the same is reflected in a sharp rise on the channel share map. “We are in the reckoning. Zee Telugu can no more be taken for granted,” declares the channel CEO in a confident tone.

The 9 p.m. to 11 p.m. slot has started beeping on the popularity charts and the strategy to tap this band seem to paying dividends.

Some intelligent moves and deft planning has gone into the decision.

All the channels have been vying for the 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. band but Zee Telugu tried to look beyond this.

“We saw the prime viewing time as a weak point for the opponents and started concentrating on it. The ratings underscore that it has now become a strong band for us,” he says.

Few concepts did work to the channel’s favour and they include ‘Sa Re Ga Ma’ and ‘Aata’ series. Content such as ‘Mayavi’, ‘Amrutham’ is looked upon to give an impetus and the channel is in the process of commissioning some more programming. ‘My Dear Mangatayaru’ starring Maheshwari is one programme that will roll out soon.

“We are keen on new ideas and believe in experimenting. That should help us reach the number two slot by the 2008 end,” says Mr. Reddy and pauses to add, “and No.1 by the year 2010”.

Some fresh soaps and focus on content for kids are the other things in the pipeline. More attention is also being paid on distribution network and the CEO sticks to his philosophy of concentrating on content and planning things better instead of ushering in wholesome changes. “This is surely showing results,” he observes.

Talks on some more Telugu channels from Zee stable have been making rounds for quite some time. “Discussions are happening. We are exploring on dedicated channels for news, music and movies,” says Mr. Reddy.

T. LALITH SINGH

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