UTV-Astro To launch second channel bindaas movies by october

Close on the heels of the announcement of UTV and Astro's first youth television channel Bindass, to be rolled out in August, the company is gearing up to launch its second channel titled Bindass Movies. The channel is likely to be unveiled in October this year.

Bindass Movies, will be the second of four television channels that the JV company Genx Entertainment is looking to roll out by April 2009.


Speaking exclusively to Indiantelevision.com, Bindass CEO Zarina Mehta said, "We will launch a second channel under the Bindass brand called Bindass Movies. This is part of the four channel launch that we are targeting by April 2009. We are still yet to decide the format for remaining two channels, though we are considering either a regional offering or another separate genre."


The company has already acquired a library of 150 International films to kick off, however the channel is looking to stay away from Bollywood flicks. The youth movie channel has zeroed in on Hollywood blockbusters along with some Japanese and Chinese films which will be dubbed.

"We have chosen to stay away from Bollywood movies, atleast initially, as it will not make for differentiated viewing. Later on we may infuse some Hindi movies as well," she opines.

What was an eye opener for us was that our analysis of over a year's ratings indicated that a dubbed Hollywood movie gets three times the ratings of the undubbed version of the same movie. While a Bollywood film gets only double of that, so from a cost benefit perspective, this is the way to go, Mehta adds.



Mehta's second Bindass TV venture has been backed by research that states that youth (15-34 year-olds) watch six hours of movies a week. She has specially chosen to take the dubbed movie route as analysis supports larger untapped audiences for dubbed movies as opposed to English and Hindi flicks. All the Bindass television channels will be launched as pay channels.

The four television channels are part of the 360 degree youth brand Bindass targeted at young India. The brand will be extended and promoted across multiple media platforms including web, mobile, café's and events.

source -Indiantelevision.com