BANGALORE: Zee Group launched its much anticipated Kannada channel Zee Kannada on 11 May. The 24-hour channel hit the airwaves at 5 am.

In an official release, Zee South said the new channel was slated to capture the needs, moods, sentiments and aspirations of Kannadigas. Zee Kannada is the second south Indian language channel that Zee is launching after Zee Telugu, which was launched in May 2005.

Says ZTL director Punit Goenka, "It's a real delight to be in Bangalore, Zee Kannada is a tribute to the spirit of "Kannadigas". As Karnataka happens to be the gateway of South India, it will be our constant endeavor to make it the most admired channel in South. We promise to deliver you best service and quality programs throughout our transmission and aspire to be the number one Kannada channel within an year."

Zee was seen promoting the launch through outdoor advertising and direct contact programs with viewers across Karnataka. Kannadigara Kanmani will be the tagline for Zee Kannada.

Speaking on the initiative, Zee South channels head Ajay Kumar offers, "The Southern region has always been our priority. Launch of Zee Kannada is in continuance with our Zee South initiative. This is the first time in the television history that a channel, whose programs are fine tuned as per the viewer's feedback, is launched."

Zee Kannada business head Venkat Giridhar adds, "Zee Kannada is a dream come true for us .We are highly grateful to the viewers across Karnataka whose feedback has been of immense help in deciding on the content and quality of our programmes. We are sure that our people of Karnataka will be proud to see the channel of their choice."