25 years of a 'public movement' called Zee TV

Twenty-five years ago, India's first private channel Zee TV started as an "illegal" entity — "illegal" because there was no rule or law in the country then that could tackle such a revolution. It started a new era of entertainment in the country, metamorphosed into infotainment and later branched out into separate news and entertainment channels. In essence, Zee TV became a "public movement."

The journey, as many early employees of Zee recall, has been that of progress, growth and constant innovation. As Rajya Sabha member and Essel Group Chairman Dr Subhash Chandra puts it in his tweet — today the channel is a household name as "viewers have made this private channel a public movement with their love and support." He added: "Reaching entertainment to the homes of people — with this conviction in my heart, I had made a start."

Today, Zee has become a global media giant offering entertainment, news and information to 1.3 billion people in 173 countries in 19 languages. The brand is present across news, broadcasting, movies, music, live entertainment, digital and talent businesses, both in India and overseas. Its entertainment wing has more than 240,000 hours of television content and houses the world's largest Hindi film library with rights to more than 4,200 movie titles across various languages.

Punit Goenka, MD & CEO, ZEEL, said: "25 years back, on this very day, our Chairman, Dr Subhash Chandra launched our nation's first private satellite television channel. The launch of ZEE way back in 1992, sparked the evolution of not just a company, but an entire industry in itself." Turn to P4

Some of the finest and most successful talents of the country started as part of this Zee 'revolution'. Union minister for Information and Broadcasting, Smriti Irani, was a stringer with Zee TV 23 years ago. Stating that the channel had helped many people make their dreams come true, Irani said, "I was like any other reporter who used to send news to Zee TV. This group has been really lucky for me. It has shown several programmes on television that transformed people's lives in terms of entertainment. 'Zee Antakshari' made people listen to music, 'Hum Paanch' made people laugh and 'Teen Bahuraaniyan' made people cry."

The story of how Zee TV started is interesting. In January 1991, a well-known personality in the advertising world, Ashok Kurien, and Dr Subhash Chandra were watching CNN and decided that they wanted to get into satellite television. They spoke to senior managers at Li Ka Shing's Hutchison Whampoa, then the owner of Asiasat 1, the only satellite broadcasting into India and China, to form an equally-owned venture. The proposal was to be presented to Richard Li (Li Ka-Shing's son).

In his remarkably candid memoir The Z Factor - My Journey as the Wrong Man at the Right Time, Dr Chandra describes what happened next: "It was on December 14 1991 when Ashok Kurien of Ambience ad agency and I reached Star TV's office in Hong Kong. There were ten to twelve senior and junior executives in the room. Richard Li, head of Star TV, was not there. So we waited awhile. It was like waiting for the king to come in and give his blessings. Richard walked in suddenly and sat opposite me. 'OK, Indian channel... Hindi channel. Where is the money in India?' Richard was very dismissive. 'I am not interested in a joint venture.' Most of us in the room, including his executives, were shocked. It appeared that Richard had already made up his mind about the futility of the project. So I addressed him directly. 'Mr Li, if you are not interested in the joint venture, can you consider leasing the [satellite] transponder to us?' 'There is no transponder available for less than $5 million per year,' Richard said. It was a haughty statement to put me off.' 'That is fine. I will pay $5 million!' It was a spur-of-the-moment decision. I did not realize the implication of what I had said..."

Dr Chandra insisted the deal had to be signed there and then. Li, however, made him wait for two hours before refusing. Dr Chandra came back and started talking to the Russians, who had a satellite stationed over India. Li was intrigued enough to come to India in 1992. He then met Dr Chandra who took him to the Essel Propack factory. Its sheer scale and size made Li change his mind. In May 1992 he signed a deal with Dr Chandra and on October 2, 1992 Zee went on air, two years after the principal 'revolutionary' of the 'Zee revolution' had actually thought about it.