Zee Entertainment Enterprises enters German market

It plans to launch a free-to-air TV channel by mid-2016.

Media conglomerate Zee Entertainment Enterprises Limited (ZEEL), has announced its foray into Germany. The company had planned to launch a free-to-air television channel for this market by mid-2016. This free-to-air channel, for the first time, will bring Bollywood films, as well as Indian television serials to German screens.

The company has appointed Friederike Behrends to head the company's business operations in Germany. The new channel's core target group will be females between in the age bracket of 19-59 years.

Amit Goenka, CEO, International Broadcast Business, ZEEL, says, "Our foray into Germany is a major step as part of our international expansion strategy. The objective is to establish a lasting presence in Germany and grow in the German television market. With our highest levels of entertainment and new content, we are confident of being able to offer our German viewers an attractive enrichment to the existing range of television offerings."

Neeraj Dhingra, CEO Europe, Asia TV (Zee TV), says, "The launch of the channel will signify ZEEL's entry into one of the world's most important television markets, where the Bollywood genre is still barely represented. With 210,000 hours of programming and more than 3,500 film titles, our endeavour is to delight the German audiences with Indian content."

Dhingra further adds, "We also welcome Behrends to the Zee family. She brings with her a rich experience and an in-depth knowledge of media, broadcasting and TV content. Her extensive national and international industry expertise will help us to not only cement our presence in the German market, but take it to greater heights."

Behrends says that Bollywood content offers a much broader spectrum than is known on German television. "The aim is to enhance Germany's entertainment offerings by introducing an entirely new genre. We intend to capture the hearts of German viewers with Bollywood. We are currently engaged in intensive talks with German TV-platform operators with a view to expand the reach as quickly as possible on a broad scale via all transmission paths," she says.

Prior to this, Behrends was the senior strategy advisor for the international streaming provider Magine, and was responsible for its German market entry in 2014. From 2008 to 2012, she was the managing director of WDR media group, digital GmbHand's full-service internet agency webCOLONY, in Cologne.

ZEEL's range of channels includes Zee TV, &TV (AndTV), Zee Cinema, Zee Action, Zee Classic, &Pictures (AndPictures), Zee Anmol, Ten Sports, Ten Cricket, Ten Action, Zee Cafe, Zee Studio, Zee Salaam, Zing, ETC Bollywood, Zee Q and Zindagi. The company also offers channels in regional languages such as Zee Marathi, Zee Talkies, Zee Bangla, Zee Bangla Cinema, Zee Telugu, Zee Kannada and Zee Tamil. Zee and its affiliate companies have a presence across different media channels such as television broadcasting, cable distribution, direct-to-home satellite services, digital media and print media. It also operates its own digital platforms on Ditto TV and India.com.