With the pie of Hindi entertainment channels puffing out now, Ekta Kapoor's Balaji Telefilms is taking a detour to enter the telecast business. It is taking the local lane in the company of Star India. Though it is not yet clear as to how many regional channels will this joint venture will finally lead to, but the first one to be churned out from this understanding is a Telugu entertainment channel. Yash Khanna, spokesperson for Star India, says the channel will be launched by this year-end.
"We have just announced this joint venture. The company is not fully functional yet. We have not even decided on the COO. Once that is done, we will draw out plans as to how many channels will be started and in which languages," says Khanna. As of now, the venture will concentrate on starting channels in South India. "Channels in Kannada, Malayalam and other key regional languages will be launched within the next two to three years". The joint venture will be headquartered in Chennai.
Also, Khanna says, "So far, Balaji Telefilms hasn't contributed much to the content of our existing Tamil channel, Star Vijay. But now, it will start producing a good quantity of regional content for it. This will be a part of the channel's revamp." The production house has been making soaps like Pavitrabandhanam, Kalisunder Ra, Kulla Villaku and Kavyanjali in languages like Telugu, Tamil, Kannada and Malayalam.
On asked about whether Balaji Telefilms' popular Hindi serials on Star Plus like Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi, Kahaani Ghar Ghar Ki, Kkusum etc, will be dubbed for these upcoming channels, Khanna says, "There might be some of them but we will try to put original content made in local languages as much as we can, particularly in prime time." Also, dubbed shows don't have a successful track record, he points out. "They usually don't do too well. We had dubbed Kaun Banega Crorepati on Star Vijay," he says.
With the advertisement pie now fast extending to the regional language channels, and with only ETV as a major private player across regions, it no doubt is a timely move.
SANGEETA BAROOAH PISHAROTY
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