Zee TV will launch a bouquet of 15 television channels in C-Band later in June, Zee Telefilms chairman Subash Chandra said last Tuesday (June 6). The 15 channels would include the existing Zee channels plus guest channels from the likes of Nickelodeon. This bouquet of 15 channels will grow to 40 or 50 channels over a period of time, Chandra said, addressing the global investors meeting.

Chandra said Zee would launch a “basic education and support television” project in rural areas of India this year to provide education to the masses via television. “In one year, we will cover 10,000 villages in Hindi-speaking areas, and depending on its success, would take it all over the country,” he said.

The rural project was being taken up not only with social objective but also as a “business activity”, as the larger aim was to make 200 million of the total 600 million non- consumers into consumers over the next 15 to 20 years, Chandra said.

On television channels in the country, he said those hosted in India at present were 65 in number and the number was likely to go up to 100 by this year-end. The media entertainment industry in India had grown into a 250bn-rupee industry from just 20bn-rupee in 1994-1995, and it was likely to be 1,000bn rupee by the year 2010, he said.