Basil
Contributor
- Joined
- 6 Oct 2013
- Messages
- 7,279
- Reaction score
- 15,705
MUMBAI: In line with its positioning of ‘Vasudhaiva Kudumkam’ (The world is my family), ZEEL is launching a Thai Bollywood channel Zee Nung on 22 May.
The launch follows the company’s foray into the Indonesian market with Bahasa-dubbed Bollywood channel Zee Bioskop.
Zee Nung will air Bollywood movies dubbed in Thai catering exclusively to the local population. The company already operates Zee TV and Zee Cinema in Thailand catering to the Indian expatriates.
In a recent interaction, ZEEL MD and CEO Punit Goenka had revealed that the company was expanding into new territories including Thailand as part of its strategy to reach one billion viewers globally by 2020.
The company already runs local-language channels in Russia, Indonesia and the Middle East. ZEEL has a library of more than 3,000 Bollywood movies. The channel will hand-pick movies that will be dubbed in Bahasa.
Zee Nung carries the tag line ‘Bollywood ni Thai’ (Bollywood in Thai). “We are launching the channel after a lot of research that clearly shows there is appetite for Bollywood content dubbed in local language. Zee Nung is customised for local Thai population,” says a source close to the development.
The soft launch of the channel happened on 15 May and it is under free-view period till the official launch which is 22 May. The channel will be available on CTH, Thailand’s biggest pay TV operator. Initially, the channel will have fewer ads.
However, it will start carrying ads down the line. “While Zee Nung is a pay channel, we will also have ads on the channel going forward,” the source added. The company has also appointed Vasihali Kasturia as the country head for Thailand. Based out of Bangkok, she will report to ZEEL Asia Pacific business head Sushruta Samanta.
