Even as the government continues to work out the details of its proposed television channel for agriculture, Mumbai-based ad film production company Nomad Films has gone ahead to start a channel targeted at rural audiences. A brainchild of the company’s managing director Junaid Memon, Green TV started testing signals on 15 August. The official launch of the channel will take place towards the end of September, informed Memon. The free-to-air channel will have Hindi and Tamil feed. “Initially, we will have only Hindi feed, but after three months of launch we plan to start Tamil feed as well,” he disclosed. The channel will provide programming on agriculture-related topics including biotechnology, farm mechanisation, crop protection, horticulture, animal husbandry and food processing.
The channel will have six hours of original programming a day. About 80 per cent of the content will be produced in-house while the remaining 20 per cent will be outsourced.
In terms of distribution, Memon said that the channel will focus on areas covered under Phases III and IV of cable TV digitisation as that is where most of its core target audience is. It will also bid for a slot on Prasar Bharati’s free direct-to-home (DTH) service Freedish. “We are mainly targeting rural analogue market. We have a team of 25 people who are seeding boxes in smallest possible areas,” disclosed Memon. The channel won’t spend money on carriage fee. It will rather educate cable operators about the need of this channel for their subscribers. “We are not fighting for getting carried on cable networks; however, we will make them understand the importance of this channel for the rural community,” explained Memon.
Read more at: http://www.televisionpost.com/television/agriculture-focused-channel-green-tv-to-launch-by-september-end/ | TelevisionPost.com
The channel will have six hours of original programming a day. About 80 per cent of the content will be produced in-house while the remaining 20 per cent will be outsourced.
In terms of distribution, Memon said that the channel will focus on areas covered under Phases III and IV of cable TV digitisation as that is where most of its core target audience is. It will also bid for a slot on Prasar Bharati’s free direct-to-home (DTH) service Freedish. “We are mainly targeting rural analogue market. We have a team of 25 people who are seeding boxes in smallest possible areas,” disclosed Memon. The channel won’t spend money on carriage fee. It will rather educate cable operators about the need of this channel for their subscribers. “We are not fighting for getting carried on cable networks; however, we will make them understand the importance of this channel for the rural community,” explained Memon.
Read more at: http://www.televisionpost.com/television/agriculture-focused-channel-green-tv-to-launch-by-september-end/ | TelevisionPost.com
