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Nithya Subramanian

New Delhi , Nov. 28

IF you are interested in history, horse racing or gardening, you might just be able to catch these on a whole range of specialist channels eyeing the Indian market.

Last week, Cartoon Network launched another kids' channel, POGO, now National Geographic has brought The History Channel to our homes. Health channel Care TV has also made a debut, a movie channel from the Turner stable is expected, and while a horse racing channel is exploring to foray into the Indian market. The industry buzz is that Zee has been scouting for niche channels, both Bloomberg and Reuters are surveying the market and Animal Planet may be relaunched under a new global strategy.

"These are symptoms of a maturing market. The market is getting fragmented and niche channels will become more and more active," said Mr Zubin Gandevia, Managing Director, The History Channel. Also, while general entertainment channels will continue to rule the roost, there is whittling down of interest, he added.

According to Mr Sandip Tarkas, President, MPG (part of the Havas Group), "The increased interest in unique content channels is in line with the international trend, where once the market matures, niche channels start getting a place. However, uniqueness of content will play an important role in the determining the success of these channels."

Specialist channels have so far been doing well. A TAM India report indicates that specialist channels like the English language channels with one per cent viewership have managed to garner two-and-a-half per cent share of the revenues. The specialist channels include infotainment, English language, music, news and kids channels, which together account for about Rs 800 crore or 20 per cent of the Rs 4,000 crore television revenues.

Broadcasting industry sources also feel that this trend is due to channels keeping in mind the launch of direct-to-home (DTH) operations. Currently, only ASC Enterprises has commenced DTH operations. But with Star India also planning to get on to the bandwagon, channels would like viewers to sample their fare before getting on to any of the DTH platforms. "It is not going to be easy for these niche channels to generate advertising or subscription revenues. With a high percentage of black-and-white televisions still operating in the country, niche channels will find it difficult to be among the first 20 channels. But keeping DTH in mind, they are open to investing in the country," said an industry official.

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