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National Geographic Channel launches Tamil feed
This is the fourth regional feed from the channel, in addition to Hindi, Telugu and Bangla, apart from English. The newly-launched channel will be available across all platforms including cable, satellite and direct-to-home (DTH).
After launching its Telugu and Bangla feeds last year, National Geographic Channel (NGC) is all set to enter the state of Tamil Nadu as it introduces its fourth regional feed -- Tamil.
Speaking to afaqs!, Debarpita Banerjee, vice-president, marketing, Fox International Channels, says, "The launch of the Tamil feed is in line with our expansion strategy, as we want more and more people who are interested to watch our content to get access to it. The idea of launching regional feeds is to allow viewers to understand and consume our content in a better manner."
Going forward, NGC plans to launch a host of other regional feeds in selected markets.
Banerjee explains, "We will be mainly looking into launching language feeds in those markets where it's difficult for the viewers to understand English, and especially Hindi. Yes, in the future, we do plan to tap more regional markets and will launch as soon as we are able to set up the required technology."
In 2002, the channel, in an effort to test the waters, had telecasted programmes in Tamil for four hours a day, from 7 pm to 11 pm. It was only after its Hindi feed met with success that the channel launched other regional feeds.
NGC will face some competition in the region as Discovery already runs a feed in Tamil.
For the record, NGC is available under the umbrella brand of Fox International Channels that also runs a bouquet of other channels in India, including Fox History and Traveller, Baby TV, Nat Geo Wild, Nat Geo Adventure, Nat Geo Music and National Geographic Channel HD.