ZEE Entertainment strengthens its position in Central Europe; announces entry into Poland

Mumbai: With an aim to grow operations by expanding into new markets, leading Indian content company, Zee Entertainment Enterprises Limited (ZEEL) on Friday announced its foray into Poland. The company has appointed Pawel Kolasa as Country Manager - Poland and he will report to Neeraj Dhingra, CEO – ZEE Network Europe.

The channel will also shortly launch a specially customised version of Zee.One, its dedicated Bollywood film and entertainment channel for Polish audiences.

Amit Goenka, CEO – International Broadcast Business, ZEEL said, “In the past few years, we have focused our efforts on expanding and strengthening our position internationally. With a wide range of television channels, on-line platforms and film productions, we now reach more than one billion viewers across five continents. After the successful launch of Zee.One in Germany last year, we want to further strengthen our presence in Central Europe and Poland is the market with the highest potential in this region.”

Neeraj Dhingra, CEO – ZEE Network Europe said, “We are the first Indian media and entertainment conglomerate to enter Poland. We are confident that our entry into this market will play a key role in the development of our business in this part of Europe, giving a new dimension to our company's expansion keeping in line with our motto of ‘Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam - The World is My Family’.”

“With over 22 years of experience in the television industry, we are confident that Paweł Kolasa would add significant value to our organization through his extensive experience in developing strategic partnerships with key operators of digital platforms and cable networks as well as in B2B marketing. For the past seven years he has managed, created and implemented a distribution strategy for NBCUniversal, achieving success in a highly competitive market. We are pleased to welcome Pawel to the ZEE family and we wish him many successes,” Neeraj further added.

Paweł Kolasa, Country Manager – Poland, said, “I am extremely excited to be a part of ZEE and lead the organization’s growth in this region. We plan to bring the best of Bollywood to viewers in Poland. Going forward, we will also be looking at creating local Polish productions.”

Zee.One, a film and entertainment channel, promises to bring top-quality Bollywood content, specially customized for Polish audiences. The channel will feature high-budget movies and series: action films, thrillers, comedies and musicals. The programming line-up will also include lifestyle programs inspired by the rich Indian culture, dedicated to popular topics such as culinary, travel or yoga.

The channel’s schedule, adapted to the local market, will be created by the Polish team. The channel will launch in Poland later this year.