ZEEL announces foray into Germany; plans to launch free-to-air TV channel by mid-2016

Zee Media Bureau

Munich/ Mumbai: India’s leading media conglomerate, Zee Entertainment Enterprises Limited (ZEEL) on Monday announced its foray into Germany.

The company also shared its plans to launch a free-to-air television channel for this market by mid-2016.

This FTA channel, for the first time, will bring high-quality Bollywood films produced by the Indian film industry as well as popular Indian television series to German screens, 24-hours a day.

The new channel´s core target group will be females between the ages of 19 and 59. The channel is planned to be available on the most important satellite and cable platforms. Friederike Behrends will be responsible for business operations in the German-speaking area.

Amit Goenka, CEO-International Broadcast Business, ZEEL, said, “Our foray into Germany is a major step as part of our international expansion strategy. The objective is to establish a lasting presence 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 at Asia TV Ltd. (Zee TV), said, "The launch of the channel will signify ZEEL´s entry into one of the world´s most important television markets, in which the Bollywood genre is still barely represented as yet. With 210,000 hours of programming and more than 3,500 film titles, our endeavor is to delight the German audiences with Indian content.”

“We also welcome Friederike to the ZEE family. She brings with her a rich experience and in-depth knowledge of Media, Broadcasting and TV content. Her extensive international and national industry expertise will help us not only to cement our presence in the German market, but take it to greater heights;” Dhingra added.

Friederike Behrends said, "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 expanding the reach as quickly as possible on a broad scale via all transmission paths."

Until recently, Friederike Behrends was the Senior Strategy Advisor for the international streaming provider Magine, being responsible for its German market entry in 2014.

From 2008 to 2012, she was Managing Director of WDR media group digital GmbH and the full-service internet agency webCOLONY in Cologne. She took over these positions after becoming a member of the Board of Directors at Bild.-T-Online.de AG & Co. KG, where she had worked since 2001. Previous career stages included a period at Grundy UFA TV Produktions GmbH.