The Hindu Business Line : Zee Music lines up plans to reach top slot

"Through the exclusive film rights bagged through our associate channel Zee Cinema, Zee Music would have the advantage of playing the full songs from Hindi films, which other competitor channels such as MTV and Channel V will not necessarily be in a position to implement. In fact, most of such music channels have resorted to airing their own serials to fill in the slots between playing their music videos,'' said Mr Bharat Ranga, Business Head, Zee Cinema.

Beefing up its library of Hindi Films, the Zee network recently segmented the market into three genres of films - premiere, classic and action apart from its existing flagship film channel of Zee Cinema.

Having access to these films should help it in bagging the rights to the songs played in these films as well. "Today we own nearly 70 per cent of the Hindi film library and full songs can be played by only those having a library,'' said Mr Ranga.

Carrying the baseline `Sound of India', the channel will use the repertoire of Zee Cinema and its allied movie channels; Zee Music will also have fewer ad breaks compared to other music channels.

Zee Cinema has - for the first time - gone in for a branding exercise by launching its own film.

Much on the same lines as Sony Max (`Deewana Bana De'), Zee Cinema (through its ad agency FCB Ulka) has unleashed its own film called Paap Ka Anth, reiterating its positioning of `Movie, Masti and Magic'.

The 120-second film depicts the story of a village girl who is kidnapped by a dacoit and returns to extract her revenge. The melodrama is supposed to demonstrate how Zee Cinema transforms the lives of ordinary people with extraordinary entertainment.

Zee Cinema is also looking at tapping alternative revenue streams to boost its revenues.

"We are looking at ground-level activities such as events and have also approached mobile networks to use SMS as a medium to get additional revenues,'' said Mr Ranga.

Tapping a host of below-the-line activities, Zee Cinema is hoping to give its allied channels, including Zee Music, the necessary fillip to gain an edge over competition.