NDTV Media adds a Punjabi GEC in its basket

NDTV Media has been appointed media consultant for a new television channel being launched by Channel Guide India, a newly floated company. ‘Just TV Punjabi’ is a Punjabi general entertainment channel which will be launched on June 16 2008. The company is expected to reveal its complete plan in the first week of June.

NDTV Media will be media consultant to Just TV Punjabi. Apart from being the sole advertising sales partner for the channel, NDTV Media will provide strategic consultancy, help in research and planning, offer marketing services for Just TV Punjabi.

Manish Vasisht, managing partner and CEO, Just TV Punjabi, hopes to leverage NDTV’s learning and expertise in launch planning, identifying programming needs and market strategy. “We will work in equal partnership with NDTV Media be it in the areas of programming or marketing”, he clarifies. There is a commercial understanding between the two parties by which NDTV Media is entitled to a certain percentage of revenue.

This is the first channel from Channel Guide India. The company has plans to foray in other genres in the next six months. Vasisht says that they did research that lasted six months and revealed that there was a need gap in the Punjabi market. “In the Punjabi genre there are music channels and news channels but not a single GEC. Hence we decided to launch one”, he adds.

Just TV Punjabi will have all the elements of a general entertainment channel. The content will comprise of daily soaps, reality shows, music, kids’ programming, horror shows, movies and devotional programmes. He is confident that the channel will provide an effective platform for the increasing number of brands that hope to target the Punjabi speaking audiences across various northern states.