Siti Channel revamps itself

Televisionpoint.com Correspondent
The Siti Channel, Asia's first cable channel to turn satellite is targeting both youth & family audience with its brand new look. Siti Channel was the first organized cable channel of the country, launched after consolidating the independent cable operators in 1994. That time it was poSitioned as a community channel, relaying movies and local content. The main objective for city specific channel, which were first mooted by Siti Cable Network Limited across its operational areas, was to provide city specific programming & content. This was with a view to help in establishing close links with the masses.

Now in the present scenario when the viewers are exposed to more then 150 channels, the channel decided to take the brand on satellite and the tranSition was done on 5th of April 2005 when it became India's first cable channel to become satellite. The content was still quite similar to the cable format, but the local content was replaced with the blockbusters of the birth of the entertainment industry era.

On Feb, 24 at 7:30 PM, the channel will take it's new avatar, with catch line 'Entertainment Ka Naya Funda, Interesting!. The mainline general entertainment channels are more urban & metro specific. The non metro cities and the smaller townships, that represent the real India, have been left out of the main stream. Channel Siti addresses aspirational values of this market along with viewers in SEC B, C & D in metro cities. The channel has something for each & everyone in the family. Specific time bands have been created, focusing on different age groups - morning for the old, early afternoon for the women, evenings for the youth, etc. with focus on weekend entertainment for the entire family.

"The business logic for getting into already crowded genre is simple. This is largest genre in TV viewership pie and accounts for more than 50% share in viewership. Recent success of second level of general entertainment is live example of latent demand in this genre and is still the most viable genre to venture into. We intend to provide wholesome entertainment to our viewers and break away from cliché of sticking to one particular flavor like humor or newsy content," says Gaurav Goel, Channel Head for Channel Siti.

The sources in the company are confident that viewers that will sample the channel will definitely come back for more. With the same concept they have targeted their logo with a tag line saying Interesting, hoping to get the audience to try them out. Channel Siti has been launched with a multi media campaign across targeted markets and an extensive communication campaign poSitioned around its tag line. All its communications showcase the couch with color bands as their mascot and the members of Siti family, for whom is worth trying this entertainment ka naya funda, claims Gaurav Goel.