Zee Cinema goes Arabic

Zee Cinema, launched in 1995 in India, is already a premier movie channel across the world, offering the most select Hindi movies to diverse audiences across Asia Pacific, Europe, the Americas, and Australia. The Arabic customization of Zee Cinema for the Middle East beam is part of the network's growing emphasis on consolidation and customization in the region.

Yogesh Radhakrishnan, Managing Director and CEO of Real Media-Zee Network, said: "What we have done in the Middle East is add value for our viewers in the Middle East. The entire Zee Cinema Middle East Beam is completely packaged in Arabic so as to facilitate easy viewing for our Arabic-speaking audiences. Over the past year, we did extensive research on the Arabisation of the channel. We observed that Hindi movies are very popular with Arab nationals, not only in GCC but in the entire Middle East. Hindi movie stars are very popular, for example there is a huge fan following for Amitabh Bachchan, Shah Rukh Khan, Salman Khan, Aishwarya Rai etc. The increasingly Arabic look of the channel caters to this niche market. We already have a very strong following amongst South Asian expatriates in the region. Now our position is even stronger".

The Arabic version of Zee Cinema was launched successfully at 00.00 hrs on 10th October after a technical dry run with all its variants. It is a pay channel and is currently available on E-Vision and Pehla Silver package. It will soon be available on other platforms as well.

The 24-hour Hindi movie channel will continue to show the latest Hindi blockbusters, classics, and specialized segments about the leading stars in Bollywood.

The development also adds great value to advertisers as the entire programming and packaging will now be locally managed with exclusive segments customized for the viewer landscape in the Middle East.

Shekhar Iyer, Business Head, Zee Cinema said, "Zee Cinema has been a very successful channel for us the world over. We have an extensive library of more than 3000 titles. Unlike other movie channels that thrive on primetime shows we offer premium movies in the morning, afternoon and evening which provides us with very strong viewership. A more Arabic Zee Cinema is yet another value addition for the channel. I am sure our Arabic audience will love it and relate to it even more".