ETC Punjabi announces Annual Music Awards 2005

Media release, January 19

New Delhi

ETC Channel Punjabi, the most popular Punjabi channel in the country is proud to announce the second annual music awards ETC Channel Punjabi Music Awards 2005. Through these annual awards, the channel honors outstanding achievements in Punjabi music in various categories ranging from singing, composing, music direction to choreography et al. The award ceremony has total number of 26 different categories covering every aspect of the most happening music industry – Punjabi Music Industry. The event, proposed to be held on 27th February 2005 at Jalandhar will be the biggest event ever witnessed by Punjabi audience and will showcase the best of the Punjabi music industry in all its glory. The event is scheduled to start at 6:30 pm and will be telecast live on ETC Channel Punjabi and Alpha TV Punjabi simultaneously.

According to Mr. J. S. Kohli, CEO of ETC Networks Ltd, “Punjabi Music Industry is the most vibrant music Industry around the world. The popularity of Punjabi singers and the Punjabi albums have created place for themselves in the national Pop charts and International Pop charts equally. Through these Awards Ceremony, we intend to honor the excellence in its various form. We will also honor some of the veterans in Punjabi Music with the Lifetime Achievement award for their remarkable contribution made in the field of Punjabi Music.” Mr. Rabindra Narayan, President, ETC Channel Punjabi says, “We are grateful to the entire Punjabi Music Industry which supported the first edition of Punjabi Music Awards last year whole-heartedly and this year too, we look forward to their full support in making this event even a bigger success story. Remarkably last year ETCP Music Awards got a bigger channel share than even the Filmfare Awards. Both the awards were held on the same night but ETCP Music Awards got a channel share of 40% as against the small 6% share of Filmfare Awards in Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh and Himachal Pradesh region as per TAM report. This itself shows how popular this award ceremony is in Punjab region.”

Adds Ms Rajiee M Shinde, Vice President (Programming), ETC Channel Punjabi, “The selection procedure is fair, transparent, unbiased and is modeled on the lines of international awards of repute in which the general public and an elite panel of judges will jointly select the winners. The night will be made livelier with the performance by some of the biggest stars of Punjabi Music Industry like Gurdas Mann, Jazzy B, Sukhshinder Shinda, just to mention a few. The event will witness the special computer controlled lighting and 20,000 watts of sound, which is rarely seen by the audience of Punjab. The entire process is being audited by MGB & Co. of Mumbai.”

This two month long exercise began in December 2004 with the channel inviting the music companies to send in their nomination. The last date of sending the duly filled nomination form is 25th January. The nomination form could also be downloaded from the Music Awards website www.etcpmusicawards.com.

Response to this invitation is over whelming. Channel has received entries from hundreds of music companies across Punjab, Haryana and Delhi within a week of starting the process. It was a Herculean task to screen those hundreds of entries received and then to decide the final nominees. There is a team comprising the veterans of the industry who will go through all the entries and will finally select the nominees. The names of all the nominees are disclosed to public via the two channels Alpha TV Punjabi and ETC Channel Punjabi and also through the leading newspapers of the region. Then the voting opens to public who can either call up, post or SMS or e-mail their vote.

The final selection of the winner is made on the basis of the voting done by the public and the voting done by an elite panel of judges. Now comes the final ceremony, where the names of the winners will be read to the public from sealed envelopes. The final ceremony ‘ETCP Music Awards 2005’ will be held at PAP Grounds, Jalandhar on 27th February from 6:30 pm onwards. The final ceremony will be telecast Live on ETC Channel Punjabi and Alpha TV Punjabi all over the country and also across many other countries where the channels enjoy a healthy viewership.

For further information, please contact:

Neelam Gupta

Mumbai

022- 26742503