Moscow (PTI): To cash on the immense popularity of Indian movies and serials in the former Communist nation, Zee TV, a leading entertainment channel of India, is scheduled to launch its satellite and cable service in Russia by the end of this year.

"Zee TV will be the first foreign television company to operate directly in the Russian market rather than dealing via a distributor, despite a requirement that the controlling stake in foreign TV broadcasters belong to a Russian resident," business daily Kommersant said.

With an initial investment of about USD 7 million, Zee plans to air Bollywood movies and programmes about India to be made and dubbed into Russian at its studios in Mumbai. Zee TV is trying to forge an alliance with Sistema Mass Media (SMM), a leading player in Russian TV market, according to reports.

SMM Deputy General Director Artyom Kudryavtsev confirmed the negotiations were underway for interaction as Zee was trying to obtain a broadcasting license for a 24-hour channel.

Zee TV, so far, had little exposure to the Russian market and its only one channel was available to Moscow-based Indian diplomats and businessmen through local broadcaster KosmosTV and has about 2,000 subscribers.

Zee's foray into the Russian media market seems to be inspired by the success of IndiaTV channel run by the local Red Media, a content provider for satellite based DTH broadcasters NTV+ and Tricolor TV.

Launched in July 2006, India TV with a huge variety of old and latest Bollywood movies dubbed in Russian has already gained 7 million viewers and its revenue is estimated to be about USD 2 million, according to the daily.