MUMBAI: Hit shows Kavyanjali and Marumagal are among the programming content that Star‘s Tamil language channel Vijay TV is marketing to a Sinhalese channel in the UK.

Vijay TV general manager Ajay Vidyasagar told the Hindu Business Line that the content syndication would be part of a three-hour Tamil block that Sirasa, a Sinhalese station, part of the BskyB DTH (direct to home) bouquet in the UK is creating.
According to Vidyasagar, Sirasa currently has only four hours of programming, predominantly Sinhalese. The three hour Tamil block filled with Vijay TV content will cater to the fairly large South Indian audience in the area.

Among the programmes offered by Vijay to Sirasa will include classical and devotional music, plays, events, daily and weekly soaps. Marumagal will be the driver show, as will be Kavyanjali, which will also be beamed on Sirasa.

Vidyasagar has been quoted as saying that marketing programming content in a DTH scenario offers tremendous opportunities, as it makes audience response measurement easy.

MUMBAI: The Malayalam channel space is becoming increasingly crowded. After Jeevan TV, which is all set to go on air from 1 August, it will be the turn of India Vision TV to launch on 17 August.

India Vision TV is promoted by Kerala state Public Works Department minister Dr MK Muneer and has its head office in Kochi, from where the channel would be uplinked.
With Asianet, Surya, Doordarshan and Kairali channels already operating in the state, the two new kids on the block are going to find it quite tough (to put it mildly) to mop up any advertising revenue.

Among the four channels already on air, Kairali is desperately short of funds. Even Asianet, which had first mover advantage in the private channel space, has had to go in for a major course correction to counter the threat of the Sun Network‘s Surya channel.