Zee Kannada launch today

BANGALORE: Zee Telefilms Ltd will launch its Kannada satellite television channel on Thursday. It also plans to start channels in Malayalam and Tamil by the next year.

Zee Kannada will be the third mainstream satellite channel after Sun group’s Udaya and Eenaadu’s E TV in Karnataka, which has an estimated advertising revenue of Rs 180 crore annually.

The Sun group also operates a music channel U2 in the state.

“Zee has been operating in the northern India for the last 14 years and now it is making a foray in the south. We started with Telugu followed by Kannada and very soon we launch Malayalam and Tamil channels. We are determined to stay here for long,” said Punit Goenka, director, Zee Telefilms Ltd (ZTL).

Zee Telugu completed a year of launch this month. The media group earlier had a presence in Kannada with Kaveri and Bharati in Tamil.

“This will be a complete family entertainment channel. Kannada audience are a challenge for any media organisation because people watch at least two languages. They always look for the best in content,” said, Ajay Kumar, business head, Zee South Channels.