The Hindu Business Line : Reality TV to get desi touch

REALITY TV, the 24-hour channel featuring real life action and dramas, plans to get aggressive in the Indian market. The channel is planning to add Indian content, besides embarking on a large-scale brand building exercise.

Ms Flecka Picardo, Marketing Manager-Asia Pacific & India, Zone Vision, said, "We will be starting off by having one-three minute fillers in Hindi with English sub-titling and will subsequently launch shows from India."

The channel, which was launched early last year, has been mainly airing shows that combine hard-hitting and real-life drama. So far, the content has mainly been international in nature.

The channel is part of the Zee-Turner bouquet mainly a subscription driven one and does not have advertisers. "Though we have Cutting Edge Media for advertising, we have not yet got ads on the channel. That's because there is a combined feed for the Asia-Pacific region. A number of advertisers do not want to buy when there is a pan-Asian feed," she said. A separate feed for India could be a possibility at a later stage.

Reality TV, at present, reaches out to about 15 million households and targets the SEC A and B class in the age group of 16-34 years. Ms Picardo added that contrary to popular perception, the programmes also attract female viewers in almost equal numbers.

Meanwhile, the channel is embarking on a promotional and brand-building exercise. For starters, it will be advertising in multiplexes in the metros as well as on local cable channels. The print media would be considered later.