MUMBAI: Just after two months of launching its Punjabi music channel 9X Tashan, 9X Media, the company controlled by private equity firm New Silk Route, is launching its 24-hour Marathi music channel.

9X Jhakaas, with a tagline of ?Aai Shapaath? will launch on 31 October and will be the first Marathi music channel.

The Marathi television advertising market is around Rs 5 billion plus, with three general entertainment channels (Zee Marathi, ETV Marathi and Star Pravah), one dedicated movie channel (Zee Talkies) and three news channels (Zee 24 Taas, Star Majha and Ibn Lokmat), grappling for a piece of the pie. Other players in the fray include Saam Marathi, DD Marathi and Mi Marathi.

Industry sources say that 9X Media is spending heavily on distribution as Maharashtra is a priority state for advertisers as well as media planners. "Maharashtra is a P1 and very ad friendly market. If 9X Jhakaas manages to copy the success of its Punjabi and Hindi channels, it may have a bright future. The channel is definitely going to get a first-mover advantage here," a senior media planner said.

He added that the new offfering looks "rich" and "full of Marathi heritage" from the promos that he has seen.

Sources claim that unlike the Punjabi market, where 9X Tashan had spent Rs 60 million on distribution, for 9X Jhakaas, the channel will have to spend double. "Punjab has only two major MSOs, while in Maharashtra, which is a big TAM market there are 20-25 MSOs. For a good placement, 9X Jhakaas will have to spend at least Rs 100-120 million on distribution on the state," a source in the cable industry said.

On the content side, like in the Punjabi channel, 9X Jhakaas will have Marathi film and non-film music videos, including folk, popular and contemporary.

The channel will also be streamed live online on the channel?s website, www.9xjhakaas.in, and to mobile phones.
Indiantelevision.com had first reported that 9X Media would be launching two channels by year end. The company was earlier planning a Punjabi and a Bengali channel, but changed its plans and is launching the Marathi channel instead.

Similar to the Punjabi channel, 9X Jhakaas will also air a series of humorous animated shows and shorts presented by animated characters speaking in Marathi. The channel will see a new set of characters apart from 9XM?s popular Bade-Chote.

The Punjabi music channel was launched on 31 August.

MUMBAI: History, the factual entertainment channel from the JV between AETN and TV18, will be launched in India on 9 October.

Also planned are two more channel launches next year - Bio and Crime And Investigation.

In order to have a broader appeal, History channel will be available in six languages ? English, Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Bengali and Marathi - at the outset. This is the first time that any channel in this genre will have a dubbed feed in Marathi.

It is worth noting that the other channels in this genre like NGC and Discovery took years before going into local languages outside Hindi.

History is looking at one more language feed a couple of months down the road. "We want to double the viewership of this genre. We feel that it is not just for the elite or for people who are well traveled or who like wildlife. We want to go beyond the six Metro game. That is why we have gone into several languages which will help us cut across SECs and age groups," History GM marketing Sangeeta Aiyer told Indiantelevision.com.

Viewership for fiction entertainment content abroad tends to be cyclical. "People get fed up of it and look for something new. This is where factual entertainment comes in. This trend will come to India as well in the next couple of years. Factual entertainment will become more mass," explained Aiyer.

History will be a high definition channel catering to the TG of SEC A,B audiences of 15 + age group.

The channel expects to have 80 per cent connectivity within three weeks of launch, said Aiyer. The marketing spend is in the region of Rs 150-170 million.

The channel has already roped in Salman Khan as the brand ambassador.

"Khan personifies what History channel is all about ? thrills, action, adventure etc. He is also not known for being associated with this genre which lends the tie up a novelty value," said Aiyer.

The tagline of the campaign is ?Kuch Naya dekho history banthe Dekho? (Watch something new see history in the making). The aim of the campaign is to get viewers to watch something new by going beyond the familiar.

History has conceptualised three TVCs and they have gone viral through facebook which will go on-air next week.

In the TVCs, Khan is a ?sutradhaar? of sorts. The TVCs have been conceptualised by McCann Erickson and directed by Prashant Issar of Tubelight Films.

"Generally history has a perception of belonging to the past and being about black and white images. We want to break this. History is being created everyday; it is contemporary. History is not about something that happened 50 years ago or about dead people," Aiyer said.

History will be conveyed in shows in an entertaining manner.

Ice Road Truckers, for instance, is about US and Canadian truckers navigating deadly roads. "While that is exciting to watch, one gets to know facts about how the Alaskan pipeline was laid out and how long it takes for an ice glacier to melt. It has also been shot in the Himalayas," Aiyer averred.

Another show called Swamp People tells you about a 300-year-old community that hunts alligators; it is about their eco-system, food habits and occupation.

"People don?t want something shown in an educational manner. They don?t want something that sounds preachy. Our treatment of shows is unique," Aiyer claimed, offering the example of Top Shot.

Top Shot, a show about weapons from different ages, is in a reality format. "16 American shooters shoot with weapons of different eras. The winner gets a prize. Viewers learn about different weapons like a bow and arrow," Aiyer elaborated.

History approaches a show on gadgets in a different manner through Sliced. Here the host takes a chainsaw and slices an object like a Volvo truck in half. He then shows viewers how the object functions. "This is far more impactful than just having a map of an object and then getting the host to show with a ruler how the object functions," Aiyer added.

On localisation of content, Aiyer said the aim is to have at least one local show within the first quarter of the channel?s launch. "But we cannot do a local show for the sake of it. That does not work. It has to have the same scale and value of international shows. We are talking to various producers," said Aiyer.

MUMBAI: Print media company Dainik Bhaskar Group has launched the third edition of its Marathi newspaper, Dainik Divya Marathi, from Jalgaon, Maharashtra.

With this launch, Dainik Bhaskar Group has expanded into three major cities in Maharashtra and grown its operations to 63rd editions. The previous two editions were launched from Aurangabad and Nasik in May and July respectively.

The Jalgaon launch followed a two-phase survey methodology of door-to-door survey for inputs and later subscription booking.

Dainik Bhaskar Group MD Sudhir Agarwal said, "Jalgaon is a vast market, with a rapidly developing industrial belt and is emerging as a premier educational hub. It has a strong cultural heritage and is now making progressive strides expanding its infrastructure, transport, communications facilities. Understanding the important role brand building plays for a new entrant, our planning has been meticulous, including our strategically classifying city to understand its demographic nuances. This sharp focus on planning, management, marketing and branding has resulted in a successful launch of Jalgaon edition."