Trademark filings have given a peek into dozens of upcoming channels planned by broadcasting companies such as Star India, Zee Entertainment and Sun TV.
According to trademark filing data made available by Quickcompany.in, Zee Entertainment is planning to launch around a dozen new channels, while Star India is planning around ten new launches and Sun TV eleven.
The trademark data is compiled from government data by Quickcompany.in, a website that provides various services to startups. The filings were first noticed by a social media user who goes by the name of Zaxotes. It should be noted that not all trademark filings ultimately result in actual product launches.
STAR INDIA
Star India’s new trademarks indicate four new offerings and seven variations or versions of existing channels.
The four new offerings are Star Movies Kids, Star Movies Premiere, Star Utsav Plus and Star Gold Romance.
As indicated by the names, the first one is likely to be a movie channel aimed at children, while the second one is likely to be yet another segmented English movie channel to complement Star Movies and Star Movies Select.
Star Utsav Plus is likely to be a variation of the Star Utsav, which was launched around ten years ago to ensure that the group remained represented in the free-to-air category. Free-to-air channels are those that can be shown by any cable or DTH operator without paying money to the channel operator.
Going by the name, Star Gold Romance is likely to be a Hindi movie channel dedicated to romantic movies.
Trademark filings also reveal the company’s potential plans to launch four language variations of its sports channel. These would be in Kannada, Telugu, Gujarati and Bangla. At present, the only regional sports channel from the group is in Hindi.
The Hindi sports channel from the group has the highest number of viewers among all its paid sports offerings. However, being regional focused, the non-English sports channels — if launched — are likely to be carried only by cable networks, rather than DTH networks.
In addition, it should be noted that the regional sports channels are in addition to the ‘multi-language’ facility provided on the primary channels. Using this facility, the user can change the language of the channel to any of the supported audio feeds using his remote.
Out of the above, the Kids and Premiere movie channels are also likely to have HD versions, going by the filings.
ZEE ENTERTAINMENT
Zee Entertainment Enterprises could launch a dozen channels in coming days, including renamed ones, according to the trademark data.
These include its first ever channel in Malayalam, a dedicated offering for Bhojpuri Cinemas and four more offerings under its sub-brand ‘&’. These are &youth, &xclusive, &flix and &music. &flix is likely to be an English language movie channel.
The company is also likely to rename Big Magic and Big Ganga, which were acquired from the Anil Ambani Group, under its mother brand.
Among the channels that are likely to come in HD as well are &xclusive, &youth, Zee 2.
SUN TV
Chennai-based Sun TV also has plans to expand its portfolio, according to the trademark filings.
These indicate Sun’s entry into two new language markets, Bangla and Marathi.
The company is already reported to have indicated the new financial year (beginning April) for the potential launch, and the trademark filings are consistent with that.
Within its existing Kannada and Malayalam markets, it is likely to launch Udaya Life and Surya Life, both dedicated to old movies.
The data also reveals that the company is potentially planning to launch HD versions of seven of its existing channels.
These are Adithya TV, Sun News in Tamil, Udaya Movies and Udaya Music in Kannada, Surya Movies and Surya Music in Malayalam and Gemini Comedy in Telugu.