MUMBAI: Zee News Ltd. (ZNL) is investing Rs 600 million in its two regional news channels which are slated for launch this month, a senior executive said.

Telugu news channel Zee 24 Ghantalu will require a capex of Rs 220 million and an operating expense of Rs 180 million for one year. The news channel for Uttar Pradesh will have an investment need of Rs 200 million towards capex and operating cost for a year.

"We are looking at launching these two channels between 20 March and 31 March. They will take up the positioning of being serious news channels. These markets have a high consumption of hard news," said the executive.

The Telugu news market is flooded with 12 channels while Sahara is the only player which runs a dedicated news channel for Uttar Pradesh.

ZNL had earlier announced it had suffered a loss of Rs 9.26 million for the yet-to-be launched Zee 24 Ghantalu during the third-quarter of the current fiscal.