The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh News : More channels on the anvil out of The box

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Jan 21, 2008
ePaper | Mobile/PDA Version

Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh

More channels on the anvil out of The box

Lavanya Lahari in ‘Bommarillu’.

How many are too many? Not an easy question to answer and particularly when raised in the context of the number of vernacular channels.

The Telugu television industry in the last decade-and-half has evolved from a solitary Doordarshan brightening the tube to almost 14 channels now covering a wide gamut from news to general entertainment to those dedicated on addressing the spiritual n eeds of viewers.

But, do the Telugu viewers have enough options on their remote or is there room for more to be accommodated? Whatever it is, the year appears set to see some more channels rolling out adding to the viewers’ options. Industry talk suggest that Asianet looking at ‘Ugadi’ as the time to go on air while ‘TTV’, a channel dedicated to news and current affairs could be on air by mid-year.

More channels offering news are in the pipeline and the forthcoming elections might see them roll out. Both ‘Zee’ and ‘Maa’ have been exploring the possibilities for quite sometime and the run-up to polls might be seen by them as the right opportunity to strike roots.

‘Maa’, it is suggested, has already started some exercise and a bit of documentation is said to be on. Exclusivity in terms of content is gaining more ground these days.

After two devotionals channels, it is now time to explore possibilities of looking at an exclusive channel for the fairer sex who make up for the major chunk of viewership.

Thus ‘Vanita’ which is said to be on the drawing board could soon make it to the drawing rooms. How about music and movies, one might be tempted to ask?

Two more channels offering this fare could become functional.

The underlying belief is that there is enough pie in the channel market to be shared. More the merrier?

T. LALITH SINGH

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Andhra Pradesh