MUMBAI: Zee Marathi is launching the new season of its chat show ?Khupte Tithe Gupte? on 7 November.

To be hosted by Avadhoot Gupte, the first episode of this new season will witness Narayan Rane as the guest.

In an unusual act, Rane will be seen expressing his respect towards the Shiv Sena supremo Balasaheb Thackeray on the show.

"I have utmost respect for Balasaheb Thackeray. I call him the king of Maharashtra and Marathi people. I had to leave Shiv Sena as my presence in the party was causing rifts between Balasaheb and his son. Being an honest party worker, I was ready to obey Balasaheb but I could not do the same for his son. So, I moved out in order to maintain peace between the father and son", Rane said when asked about his reason behind leaving the party.

The show will air every Wednesday and Thursday at 9.30 pm.

MUMBAI: Zee has tied up with Bruhan Maharashtra Mandal of North America (BMM) to celebrate Ganesh Chaturthi across the US! Zee Marath will revel with the Marathi Diaspora in the US on the occasion Ganapati celebrations!

 
Ganesh Chaturthi Events that will take place in various cities across the coming week will be a celebration of the birth of Lord Ganesh, with elements of Marathi culture along with food and music:

• September 22nd - Marathi Mandal Dallas
• September 22nd - Marathi Mandal Chicago
• September 22nd - Marathi Mandal Boston
• September 22nd - Marathi Mandal Cleveland
• September 23rd - Marathi Mandal Pittsburg
• September 29th - Marathi Mandal New Jersey
• September 29th - Marathi Mandal Los Angeles
• September 29th - Marathi Mandal Houston
• September 29th - Marathi Mandal Atlanta
• October 6th -Marathi Mandal Washington DC
   

Zee Marathi will have a presence at all these events. Attendees will get to know more about Zee Marathi?s programming and take home a Ganesh idol.

Zee Americas GM Sameer Targe said, "BMM is making great efforts to bring the Marathi community together and keep them connected. This is a perfect opportunity for ZEE Marathi to support BMM and their initiatives!"

BMM president Ashish Chaughule said, "Lokmanya Tilak gave the festival mode to Ganeshotsav mainly to enhance the sense of togetherness and to build the community. I am confident that BMM?s partnership with Zee Marathi will bring 40,000 Maharashtrian families in USA and Canada together."

MUMBAI: Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd (Zeel) expects ad revenue growth to stay muted this fiscal but a cut in costs will protect the Indian broadcasting company?s profitability.

The company?s expenses outside sports will be up 15 per cent but overall spending will be lower. The losses from sports will stay within the guidance of Rs 1 billion, down from Rs 2.08 billion in the earlier fiscal.

?We do not expect a big bounce back in ad revenues. The environment is less predictable,? said Zeel president corporate strategy and business development Atul Das.

Zeel?s ad revenues are under pressure, both in terms of volumes and ad rates. Besides a slowdown in the advertising economy, the company?s flagship channel Zee TV and regional channel Zee Marathi have lost market share.

The company posted a 4.2 per cent drop in ad revenue to Rs 3.95 billion for the three-month period ended September 2011.

"If you take out the sports business, we have actually posted a growth in ad revenue over the same quarter last year. In the second quarter of the previous fiscal, we had bigger cricketing events. But the ad climate will stay weak this fiscal," said Das.

Zee TV, which is now fourth in the Hindi GEC pecking order, will not make any dramatic shift in its programming strategy. The programming hours will increase from 29 hours per week to 33 hours. The thrust, though, will be to fix the primary slots before launching original shows in the ancillary time bands.

"We had chalked out a strategy of upping the original programming hours much before we lost market share. Our investments are independent of the loss in share," averred Das.

The sports business loss for the first half of this fiscal stands at Rs 792 million. "We are confident of meeting our earlier guidance of maximum loss of Rs 1 billion from the sports business this fiscal," said Das.

Zee has rights for South Africa-Australia and Pakistan-Sri Lanka cricket series in the second half of FY‘12.

Zeel has a net cash of Rs 11.1 billion. The company has gone slow on its buyback programme, having spend Rs 1.65 billion so far.

"We had said we could go up to Rs 7 billion. We have spent Rs 1.65 billion so far, but have time till March 2012," said Das.

NEW DELHI: Zee Americas, the South Asian network in the United States, has elevated Sameer Targe to the position of general manager of the company‘s South Asian business unit with immediate effect.

In his new role, Targe will be in charge of marketing, ad sales, programming and distribution teams. He will spearhead strategic development and execution of all sales, distribution, digital, programming and marketing initiatives for the company.

Based in New York, he will report to Asia TV USA CEO Suresh Bala Iyer.

"Sameer brings years of sales and marketing experience to his new role."says Iyer. "His keen strategic thinking along with his knowledge of the both the South Asian and Mainstream in the Americas are sure to benefit the company greatly."

Targe has over 11 years of experience in sales and marketing. He worked with Zee Entertainment Enterprises India Ltd. in India from 2000 to 2003, before moving to Canada to pursue an MBA. He returned to join the ad sales team in the USA operations of Zeel in 2006. He has led the ad sales team for the South Asian business unit since 2008.

"I am excited and thankful to the management of Zee for recognising my talent and efforts. This new role brings me a new opportunity to reinvent myself in broader functions of the media industry. I hope that I will be able to deliver as per the expectation of the management."

Asia TV USA, headquartered in New York, is a distributor of television, entertainment and media content in the United States. Among its portfolio of media and entertainment clientele are the distribution of nine South Asian entertainment channels in the United States including Zee TV, Zee Cinema, Ten Cricket, Alpha ETC Punjabi, Zee Business, Zee Smile, Zee Kannada, Zee Marathi and Zing.