Projecting a global image

IN THE cluttered Tamil satellite channel market, the only way to stay visible is to carve out a niche. Vijay TV, which transformed itself from a run-of-the-mill channel to a trendy and younger one, precisely used this to come back into the reckoning. Young and urban Veejays, snappy talk shows, higher production values and events have made it a ``happening'' channel.

Now, in its struggle for supremacy, it is seeking markets abroad. Targeting the Tamil diaspora, spread all over the world, the channel will soon be visible in several continents.

As the first step, the channel has linked up with ``Mega TV'' in Malaysia. ``We will be targeting 40,000 pay subscribers,'' says Mr. Ronnie Screwvala, Vijay TV Chairman.

By Pongal, the multi-crore Unilazer Group, which controls nearly 68 per cent stake in Vijay TV, will take the channel to ``all of Europe including the United Kingdom,'' through the Hotbird-3 platform of UtelSat.

``International markets have a lot of potential,'' reasons Mr. Screwvala. ``They are open and strong brand equities are absent.'' Above all, ``global expansion will add substantially to the bottom line.''The next destinations of Vijay TV will be Sri Lanka, Singapore. The management is also aware of the popularity of Tamil satellite channels in Mauritius and North America, especially Canada, he adds.

With the controls on live uplinking lifted, live programming will be another strong area for the channel.

``The focus will be on covering live events, at least twice a month''. Already, a live band has started performing from last week at 7-30 p.m.The key thrust is on prime time programming, and Vijay TV is developing a different genre of programmes. Moreover, it is only commissioning programmes instead of selling slots.

But the tough task ahead is to tinker with the content mix and be a winner in a state which is movie-driven. ``We will build a channel without movies being the main driver. The effort is to keep pushing the content mix and making it better.''

(By N. Ravi Kumar)

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Section  : Features
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