MarketWatch, 9/13/06
Disney switches on to Hindi market
Full Story: Disney switches on to Hindi market
Disney switches on to Hindi market
By Joe Leahy and Sundeep Tucker in Mumbai
Walt Disney is poised to make its second big push into India in less than six months with plans to become the first foreign media group to release original, local language programmes for the domestic children's TV market.
Only two months after buying Hungama TV, a rival domestic children's channel, Disney is working on two original, live action Hindi-language TV series to be shown on its Disney Channel.
"We'll have two shows on the air by the end of '06," Rich Ross, president of Disney Channel Worldwide, said in an interview with the FT.
The move is part of an aggressive push by Disney into a fast-growing market in which its channels have lagged behind competitors such as Cartoon Network and Pogo, part of the Turner group.
In a landmark deal announced in July, Disney bought control of Hungama for $30.5m and paid $14m for a 14.9 per cent stake in UTV Software Communications, Hungama's Mumbai-based parent group.
Walt Disney is poised to make its second big push into India in less than six months with plans to become the first foreign media group to release original, local language programmes for the domestic children's TV market.
Only two months after buying Hungama TV, a rival domestic children's channel, Disney is working on two original, live action Hindi-language TV series to be shown on its Disney Channel.
"We'll have two shows on the air by the end of '06," Rich Ross, president of Disney Channel Worldwide, said in an interview with the FT.
The move is part of an aggressive push by Disney into a fast-growing market in which its channels have lagged behind competitors such as Cartoon Network and Pogo, part of the Turner group.
In a landmark deal announced in July, Disney bought control of Hungama for $30.5m and paid $14m for a 14.9 per cent stake in UTV Software Communications, Hungama's Mumbai-based parent group.
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