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| Debuting - and surviving - on TV | | Q&A: Monica Tata, vice president and deputy GM, Turner International (India) |
| Priyanka Joshi / New Delhi Mar 07, 2009, 00:17 IST |
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Monica Tata, vice president and deputy GM (Entertainment Networks), Turner International (India), tells Priyanka Joshi why she's excited about the company's two new channels.
Why is Turner launching two new channels in such tumultuous times?
It made sense to have niche channels in India to reach out to specific audiences. The English entertainment channel, in partnership with Warner, will get all its content licensed from Warner, thus we stand to cushion the rising content costs. The pay channel will be distributed through the Zee Turner bouquet and will be available across the country on cable systems and digital platforms.
Real, our Hindi GEC, will have a slower rate of growth, but that has not deterred us from this venture. Turner already operates channels like CNN, Pogo, Cartoon Network and HBO in India and has a distribution tie-up with Zee Networks.
India makes up 30 per cent of Turner’s revenue in the Asia Pacific region. How will you prepare to have an impact in the current economic scenario?
Increasing viewership of our English entertainment channel will be a priority in 2009. Real will compete for a slice of the dominant GEC segment. It may seem like a tough environment to launch new channels in, but we believe that the young Indian population, its penchant for media consumption, and improving distribution delivery systems, have built a steady market for dedicated channels. Advertising revenues are projected to suffer over the next two fiscals, scaling down to 13.5 per cent growth in 2009-13 as compared to almost 16 per cent in 2006-08. But Turner is not in India to make quick profits; this is the time to invest here.
Will your channels be able to make a dent in the first year?
We may not have the first mover’s advantage but we have strong content partnerships with Warner and Miditech. While we are not going to produce any content for these two channels ourselves, we will have our Indian partners do the same for Real. We are also looking at DTH partnerships to extend our revenue streams.
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