MUMBAI: Malayalam news channel Indiavision will soon have a sibling in a youth-oriented entertainment channel. Indiavision Satellite Communications, promoters of Indiavision, is targeting an October launch for the 24-hour channel.
Indiavision is actually converting its existing music channel, which is a non-entity in the Malayalam television market, to a full-fledged entertainment channel targeting the youth. The company is yet to take a final decision on the logo and name of the new channel as it is awaiting permission from the Information & Broadcasting Ministry on the re-launch.
"We expect to get I & B permission by this month end, after which we will unveil the name and logo of the channel," Indiavision distribution head Vinod Kumar told indiantelevision.com.
Indiavision had launched its second channel in late 2004 with intentions of making it a lottery channel. But it had to change its plan and make it a music channel following the government restrictions on online lottery. The company, however, concentrated on the news channel and decided to go slow on the music channel.
Indiavision had kicked off its plans to revive the music channel early this year. But the focus got shifted to taking the news channel to the Middle East and beefing up the news operations there. The news channel opened a studio in Dubai Media City last week to beam programmes live. This facility now helps the channel to telecast news bulletins and news-based programmes live from the Gulf.
Now the entertainment channel project takes centre-stage for the company again. Indiavision feels that having a full-fledged second channel will solve its distribution issues since Indiavision news channel is yet to get a nationwide presence on cable networks. The company is planning to launch the entertainment channel in the Gulf as well.
"Having a bouquet of two channels can change the equation on the distribution front. We have already started out talks with cable operators in Mumbai and Chennai. By 2005-end we will have a national presence," says Kumar.
The Malayalam television market has seen a flurry of channel launches this year. Asianet has recently launched its youth-oriented entertainment channel Asianet Plus. The market has also witnessed the launches of Sun's music and movie channel Kiran TV, Kairali's infotainment channel People TV and Amrita TV in 2005.
