Discussion General Discussion on Current and Upcoming Kannada Channels in Karnataka

[Winchester]

Kalki TV is a venture from White Horse Pvt. Ltd. HD Kumaraswamy had once decided to move out of his TV business and sold Kasthuri TV to White Horse in 2014. They changed the overall look and feel of the channel by changing the logo and all other elements. Later the channel started getting negative reviews and angered Kumaraswamy; he bough the channel back and reinstated old logo and programming. Later Whit Horse launched (read re-launched) their channel 'Kalki TV' in 2015; they had lots of gimmicks stating they will launch 'Kalki TV HD' which will be first Kannada HD channel and all but they could never actually do. There were literally no advertising revenues I guess and the channel ran for about a year and disappeared. Now they are launching again; with strategy that I don't know. They have failed multiple times and this launch again might also not be successful considering the existing competition and popularity of current channels.

Relaunch is not under White Horse , ownership has been changed

 

[Winchester]

Kalki is active in its talk with production house for new content. I still have a doubt that it's not competitive enough infront of established networks

 

[Zaxotes]

In the current scenario in Karnataka, there is literally no chance for any new channel to make a strong statement unless it's from a major PAN-India network (like Sony). Individual channels from new companies stand no chance to do well in market unless they have a very strong content and presentation; name should be eye-catchy too. This new GEC in talk "Siri Kannada" will face backlash right at launch as the name itself is spelled incorrectly. In Kannada, this word is written and spelled as "Sirigannada" when written together. These are grammatical rules and I wonder how the people behind this channel are ignorant about this. Kannada was once a market which responded well to new News channels but now, with most of the 'gutters' being shut down for one or the other reason, starting a news channel in Kannada is also a risky attempt for any new companies. A safe game is to start with a full-time premium music channel in Kannada, currently a category that has very very less players in Kannada, that too with mediocre content. Also, any well known company can go with a premium movie channel in Kannada but the problem would be with movie satellite rights because 75% of Sandalwood is with Sun Network. With the amount of movies they have they can start at least 3 full-time movie channels but they are reluctant on doing anything with Kannada market. I have high hopes with Sony's potential Kannada GEC but time will tell what will happen!

 

[Aksgr]

Yes

In the current scenario in Karnataka, there is literally no chance for any new channel to make a strong statement unless it's from a major PAN-India network (like Sony). Individual channels from new companies stand no chance to do well in market unless they have a very strong content and presentation; name should be eye-catchy too. This new GEC in talk "Siri Kannada" will face backlash right at launch as the name itself is spelled incorrectly. In Kannada, this word is written and spelled as "Sirigannada" when written together. These are grammatical rules and I wonder how the people behind this channel are ignorant about this. Kannada was once a market which responded well to new News channels but now, with most of the 'gutters' being shut down for one or the other reason, starting a news channel in Kannada is also a risky attempt for any new companies. A safe game is to start with a full-time premium music channel in Kannada, currently a category that has very very less players in Kannada, that too with mediocre content. Also, any well known company can go with a premium movie channel in Kannada but the problem would be with movie satellite rights because 75% of Sandalwood is with Sun Network. With the amount of movies they have they can start at least 3 full-time movie channels but they are reluctant on doing anything with Kannada market. I have high hopes with Sony's potential Kannada GEC but time will tell what will happen!

Yes and viacom recognised it early and started 2nd GEC Still when audience were growing. Now even sony cannot stand a chance in kannada as colors kannada , zee kannada, udaya tv,colors super and star suverna will always stand as a wall for any GEC to enter.
Also udaya movies and colors kannada cinema currently holds more than 75% of movie viewers and other cinema channel can't stand with it and possible chance of zee kannada cinema also failing eventhough they have 37% good movie collection.
Also to note that udaya movies TVR is decreasing day by day. Telling us that young audience are favouring GEC instead of any other category.
Surprising fact that kannada people watch shows and movie more on digital platforms than TV. Voot has major viewers followed by jio tv ,jio movies,hotstar and zee5.
So emerging new channel should study the market atlest for 5yrs and start in risk

 

[Zaxotes]

In my view, Sony Kannada will not be a vague attempt and Sony has been studying the market for quite long. They will be assured of failure if the quality is compromised. The channel will have a pre-brand loyalty benefit as it is a well known brand; mostly being famous for KBC and CID in southern India also. They need to encash the same; first thing they must do is to acquire Kannada version of KBC from Big Synergy and reinstate Puneeth Rajkumar or bring a new host and launch Kannadada Kotyadhipathi in a bigger way right from the channel's launch. This will push Star Suvarna further down on TRP list and the best Sony Kannada channel can achieve would be Number 3 spot surpassing Star Suvarna. HD version of Sony Kannada launching simultaneously with SD will only make Suvarna struggle more. Suvarna will then have to re-strategise their channels to stay alive in Kannada market. On the other hand, Colors Kannada Cinema is very good in terms of presentation but the channel has started boring the audience with films nobody wants to see. It is lacking the 'premium' experience. Zee has come up with brand refresh and launched HD version of Zee Kannada recently and it is doing pretty good. Zee must also encash the scenario to launch Zee Kannada Cinema in SD as well as HD simultaneously and dethrone CKC in the segment; they can achieve this fast as they have good movies. Once ZKC HD is on the menu, CKC will be forced to launch HD channel as well as improve the offerings. Udaya Movies HD and Udaya Music HD is already planned but they are too busy in being lazy; so no competition from them. Least do they realize that they have all the resources to claim top-spot in movies segment too.

 

[Aksgr]

In my view, Sony Kannada will not be a vague attempt and Sony has been studying the market for quite long. They will be assured of failure if the quality is compromised. The channel will have a pre-brand loyalty benefit as it is a well known brand; mostly being famous for KBC and CID in southern India also. They need to encash the same; first thing they must do is to acquire Kannada version of KBC from Big Synergy and reinstate Puneeth Rajkumar or bring a new host and launch Kannadada Kotyadhipathi in a bigger way right from the channel's launch. This will push Star Suvarna further down on TRP list and the best Sony Kannada channel can achieve would be Number 3 spot surpassing Star Suvarna. HD version of Sony Kannada launching simultaneously with SD will only make Suvarna struggle more. Suvarna will then have to re-strategise their channels to stay alive in Kannada market. On the other hand, Colors Kannada Cinema is very good in terms of presentation but the channel has started boring the audience with films nobody wants to see. It is lacking the 'premium' experience. Zee has come up with brand refresh and launched HD version of Zee Kannada recently and it is doing pretty good. Zee must also encash the scenario to launch Zee Kannada Cinema in SD as well as HD simultaneously and dethrone CKC in the segment; they can achieve this fast as they have good movies. Once ZKC HD is on the menu, CKC will be forced to launch HD channel as well as improve the offerings. Udaya Movies HD and Udaya Music HD is already planned but they are too busy in being lazy; so no competition from them. Least do they realize that they have all the resources to claim top-spot in movies segment too.

Yes but for zee kannada cinema they lack old film content . Zee kannada launch was 6 years after Etv kannada so they lack in old classical hit cinema like of rajkumar vishnuvardan so on. Zee has comparatively more new films . But remember colors owns right to telecast their artist cinema. Like Vijay surya debut film as full scale actor 'istakamya' grossed more trp than other powerful actor films. So serial based fans will likely watch the film.
Also viacom has planned both ckc and cgc channel well organised as viacom motion pictures and paramount india will be producing big films in kannada and Gujarati in 2019. So tough step for zee so they are delaying process.
In terms of sony. KBC kannada version cannot attract people as people here are addicted to dramas . And also colors super may take rights of that show as production house of the show belongs to reliance and viacom is also owned by reliance.
But if sony launch its channel properly it would be challenge for star and sun networks.

 

[JollyLNB]

But if sony launch its channel properly it would be challenge for star and sun networks.

This has not happened yet with the Marathi channel. Even now there is no HD channel and the SD channel has never entered the Marathi top 5.

 

[Winchester]

This has not happened yet with the Marathi channel. Even now there is no HD channel and the SD channel has never entered the Marathi top 5.

Marathi has overlapping audience with Hindi. So Sony needs new content there. New concepts are like experiments, Sony is primarily trying to establish its base at initial stages. But for Kannada it can recreate the successful content here,with good production quality it can be a successful venture.

Right now Udaya TV is busy in buying rights of Sony serials and it is silently moving ahead.

 

[suksmuni]

If zee will starts zkc , it has good collection of hindi dubbed movies along with original Kannada movies...

 

[Aksgr]

If zee will starts zkc , it has good collection of hindi dubbed movies along with original Kannada movies...

Remember here!!!!!!. No big movie channels like udaya movies , ckc or even if zee launches zkc they will not telecast any dubbed movies. Because they may face no movie rights issued by film chamber as they are against it.