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The History Channel changes its storyline; Hindi feed to be enhanced
The three-year old channel revamps its content to attract more eyeballs
The History Channel is moving towards a strategic new direction in India from May 6. The channel will take a definite plunge from being the 'infotainment' channel to being an 'entertainment' channel with a new tagline, 'Live the Story'.
Joy Bhattacharjya, senior vice-president, programming, History Channel, says, “We are moving beyond the original line-up, by adding new movies and mini-series to our programming. We will stick to the theme of 'history', where we have proved our credibility. We are still going to be niche but will broad base our appeal.”
The titles that The History Channel has acquired so far include, 'Hitler', 'Haven, 'Nero', 'St. Peter', 'Spartacus' and boasts of 8,000 hours of new entertaining content.
When asked about the target audience, Rajesh Sheshadri, vice-president, marketing, says, “We are aiming at anybody and every body who loves good stories. But we will focus on male and females who belong to SEC AB in the 25-44 year age group in metros and mini-metros.”
To reach the target audience, Sheshadri says, “There will be a lot of cross-channel promotions on STAR network and radio stations. We are also focusing on LED display in high-traffic zones, and we are also aiming at cinema advertising, in association with PVR, DT, Fame Adlabs in metros such as Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore.”
The channel is also enhancing Hindi feed with a tagline 'Kahani Ki Dhadkan'.
On the distribution front, Nikhil Mirchandani, MD, History Channel, says, “We are the 16th most widely distributed channel among the 300 channels in India. We have been fairly successful because of the availability of STAR network, which is responsible for our distribution.” He adds, “We will also try to get the channel on the DTH platform.”
Bhattacharjya also lays out the future plans of the channel, “In the next six months, we are planning to introduce a comedy slot on Sunday afternoon, adding new and relevant TV films and series. Also, we want to get Indian content on prime-time programming.” However, he refuses to divulge further details.
© 2006 agencyfaqs!