The Hindu Business Line : Zee Next set to make a comeback

Mumbai, Dec. 4 Zee Network might bring back its second general entertainment channel Zee Next after taking it off the air within a few months of its launch in December last year. The channel had incurred heavy losses and had to be withdrawn from the Zee bouquet within a short span.

Mr Joy Chakraborty, Chief Revenue Officer, Zee Entertainment Enterprises Network, told Business Line: “We might re-launch Zee Next in the next few months. Initially when we launched it, there was the need to have a flanking channel like the other GECs but now with the slowdown we have to see how the second channel pans out.” However, with increasing clutter in the GEC space, the network may take a while to launch its second offering. As Mr Chakraborty added, “Today, there is additional carriage fee imposed on channels which is making it difficult for them to survive on day-to-day basis. There is bound to be a shake-out soon.”

Expecting a consolidation exercise sooner than later in the GEC space, Mr Tarun Mehra, Marketing Head of Zee TV, observes, “The expansion phase is over for GECs and now will begin the consolidation phase. New channels, especially those which are less than a year old, will feel the cost of doing business.”

At the same time, with ad revenues under pressure, having an additional GEC might work for the network as its flagship GEC Zee TV still commands the maximum ad volumes in this space. “The mass volumes still come from our GEC and now even our news channel is doing well,” said Mr Chakraborty.

However, in recent times, the viewership of Zee TV has been affected due to lack of fresh programming on account of the producers’ strike. Attempting to restore its viewership levels, Zee TV has announced a new packaging initiative under the theme Har Pal Banaye Ek Naya Rishta.

Fresh programming

Complementing it with fresh programming, the initiative marks the channel’s return to fresh programming after a break of nearly three weeks. Added Mr Chakraborty, “We expect the programming to come back to its peak levels and the original load is going to pick up.”

However, the new campaign for Zee TV would be restricted within the network. At the same time, it would continue to use mass media for its new programmes.

“In the past 14 days during the strike we have not advertised our programmes on radio, outdoors or print as there was no fresh content but now we will be using these media and outdoor will remain the most widely used media for the network,” added Mr Mehra.

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