Star India to launch Marathi GEC Star Pravah in November

Televisionpoint.com Correspondent | Mumbai
Star India has announced its plans to launch an third regional language general entertainment channel (GEC), Star Pravah by the end of November this year. The channel promises to offer quality entertainment and will feature a mix of talk-shows, historical epics and comedies.

'Pravah' means 'flow' in Marathi and the network hopes to connect with Maharashtrian viewers through deep rooted cultural content. The USP of the channel will be its look and feel. The marketing campaign for the channel will be kicked off by the beginning of November.

Uday Shankar, CEO, Star India said, "The discerning viewers of Maharashtra are unwilling to accept mundane, regular formats and are looking for realistic, non melodramatic and meaningful stories. Understanding their needs, we hope to showcase programmes with a strong Marathi cultural bent."

One of the channel's marquee programs at launch promises to be the epic series Raja Shivchhatrapati, which is based on Shivaji, the great Maratha warrior king. Produced on a large scale by renowned set designer, Nitin Desai, who has movies such as Jodhaa Akbar to his credit, the show hopes to set new standards in Marathi entertainment.

Star has carried out an extensive research to meet the needs of its target audience in the Maharashtra state. "The Marathi GEC will be culturally rooted and our research findings revealed that the Maharashtrian viewer likes to watch realistic dramas and that the market is very conservative and sensitive to cater on." J C Giri, regional channel head, Star India, recently said to Televisionpoint.com.

The programming and packaging of the channel has been designed in accordance with these research findings. The channel will be positioned as one that reflects the cultural values and pride of Maharashtra.

Star Pravah will be competiting with market leader Zee Marathi, Mi Marathi by Sri Adhikari Brothers and Saam Marathi by the Sakal Group.

In terms of cable and satellite penetration, Maharashtra ranks highest, with around 5 to 5.5 million homes. It is estimated that the total advertising spend on television for the Marathi speaking market is about Rs 350 crore annually. The figure is majorly dominated by GECs and the recessive part is distributed between Marathi movies and news channels.

Giri also says that among the regional markets in India, south has already been captured by strong players such as Sun TV, Raj TV and Jaya TV, among others. After south, Maharashtra is the most hot market to get into.

Star India launched its Bengali general entertainment channel, Star Jolsha, in September this year, which is the second regional GEC from Star's stable after Vijay TV, a Tamil GEC.