NatGeo launches Telugu feed

After English and Hindi, National Geographic Channel India on Wednesday soft-launched its Telugu feed, taking the vernacular route to expand its viewership.

Keerthan Adyanthaya, managing director, National Geographic Network, told reporters here that the channel was looking to double its viewership from the current five million in Andhra Pradesh over the next two to three months.

The channel would continue to be available in English and Hindi on direct-to-home (DTH) and digital cable platforms, but the default channel on analog cable networks in the state would be the Telugu one, he said, adding that similar special feeds in more languages would be launched in the next three to four months.

The soft launch began on August 1, and 90 per cent of the 300-plus cable operators in AP had already switched to the special feed, he said. Its countrywide viewership is 54 million, with Hindi adding up to around 22 million.

Adyanthaya said a new programme on Marco Polo's landing at Kakinada was in the pipeline, but added that the channel was not looking to generate local content for specific audiences.

“In the model NGC follows, even programming on India is commissioned by our Washington office, but we may hire local technicians where necessary to better capture the local nuances,” he said.

Similarly, carrying local advertising targeted at AP audiences would involve a lot of investment at the local level, and was not on the channel’s agenda, he said. He added that the new feed would have more of a viewership impact than a cost or a revenue impact.

National Geographic Channel is a joint venture between National Geographic Television and Fox Cable Networks, and has six channels in India including the NGC, NGC Wild, their high-definition versions, and NatGeo Adventure and NatGeo Music.