Diamond Comics eyes television space with a children’s channel

The channel, which will be launched in January 2009, will bring alive several popular comic characters on the TV screen

Diamond Comics Pvt. Ltd has been mesmerising kids and adults alike for the last three decades with comic literature centred round memorable characters such as Chacha Chaudhary, Billoo and Pinky. The comic giant is now planning to launch a television channel for kids, making several popular comic characters come alive on the TV screen.

Talking about the planned TV venture, Gulshan Rai, managing director, Diamond Comics, says, “Well, at the moment, there is no kids’ channel that is dishing out Indian fare. All the current players in the market are presenting Western characters and stories to children. In such a scenario, it is a good idea to give the audience a feel and taste of Indian characters by narrating local and regional stories that are of some relevance to Indians.”

Rai attributes the idea of coming out with a TV channel for kids to Diamond Comics’ enjoyable, but shortlived experience with Doordarshan in the early 1980s and with Sahara One in late 2000. He explains, “In the 1980s, we did a few memorable projects such as Jadugarani Gudiya and Lottery Ka Ticket, which first ran as 60 minute telefilms and later as 22-episode series on Doordarshan itself. But lack of resources and funds forced us to take a break from dabbling in television in any form. Our second innings on the small screen began when we were approached by Sahara TV for the serial, Chacha Chaudhary.”

Rai reveals that today, Diamond Comics commands a turnover of Rs 50 crore and is in a strong position to think about venturing into the TV space. The planned kids’ channel will cater to the five-15 years’ age group.

Talking about the business model or source of finance for the TV channel, Rai reveals, “At the moment, we are considering two types of business models. The first option is that we sell the story idea to an interested party for a handsome sum, coupled with a fixed royalty fee. The second option is to go in for a joint venture with the investor on a 60:40 revenue sharing basis. We are open to both options and will go for the best deal.” Rai, however, refused to divulge the identities of the organisations with which Diamond Comics is thinking of associating itself.

What about competition from cartoon channels such as Pogo and Cartoon Network and from children oriented programmes such as Sonpari and Shakalaka Boom on the general entertainment channels? Rai stresses on the scope and character of their planned kids’ channel in relation to other players: “All the programmes on most of the cartoon channels revolve around the adventures of foreign characters. Our channel will showcase well researched, well established and much loved Indian comic characters such as Chacha Chowdhary, Saboo, Shrimati and Pinky, which will act as a differentiator from the fare available on other cartoon channels.”

Rai adds, “In addition to animated series based on comic characters, Indian mythology will be explored to take a look at Indian myths and anecdotes relating to characters such as Hanuman. Our strong point is that we have rich content to draw up a large number of characters and stories. At present, we have 72 well fleshed out characters featuring in different series of Diamond Comics such as Comic World, Comic Digest, Comic Pitara and the Amar Chitra Katha series.”