RBNL forays into the action genre with Thrill

The new Hindi channel, christened Thrill, will host action-based content including fiction, reality and movies. The Hollywood movies will be dubbed for the Indian audiences.

The joint venture (JV) between Reliance Broadcast Network (RBNL) and the European entertainment network RTL group, has announced its new offering, Thrill. The channel, slated to be launched in the first quarter of financial year 2012-13, will target male audiences in the age group 15-40 years across metropolitan and non-metropolitan areas in the Hindi speaking markets.

The JV was signed in May, 2011and the plan includes two English TV channels; a reality channel with international content, mainly from RTL Group's production arm FremantleMedia; along with the action-based channel which primarily targets male viewers with action-oriented content.

The content on Thrill will include fiction, reality and movies based on action. Apparently on the lines of AXN, all the content on Thrill will, however, be in Hindi. It will also air Hollywood movies dubbed in Hindi for the Indian audience.

The network has signed strategic deals with various international content providers for global formats and series across a variety of genres, including action reality, action thrillers, fighting and wrestling championships and extreme sports. It also looks forward to build a library of Hollywood action movies.

This is RBNL's second international joint venture; earlier, the Big-CBS JV launched channels such as Big CBS Prime, Big CBS Love, Big CBS Spark and the regional channel, Big CBS Spark Punjabi.

In an official communiqué, Tarun Katial, CEO, Reliance Broadcast Network, says, "We are all set to offer India its first action entertainment channel, Thrill, which will showcase world class international content, dubbed in Hindi. The channel fills a need gap in the entertainment landscape and we are confident that our proposition, backed by consumer insights, will resonate excellently with viewers and marketers alike."

Big RTL has tied up with Reliance Digital TV to distribute Thrill as a part of its existing bouquet including channels in the Big CBS offering, along with Big Magic and UTV Bloomberg. With this partnership, the channel claims that it will get access to 30 lakh digital television homes across India, while it is also is in the process of closing deals with other operators.

The Big RTL JV, which was announced last year, had called for a creative pitch. Mumbai-based agency Salt Brand Solutions had won the creative mandate for the same.

For the records, RTL Group is a European entertainment network, with interests in 46 television channels and 29 radio stations in nine countries and content production throughout the world. Each year, it claims to produce 9,200 hours of programming across 58 countries. In May 2011, this joint venture posed as an entry point for the group in the Asian television market.