Zee TV completes 20 years in Europe

Zee TV completed 20 years in Europe on March 9, 2015, even as its Live show, 'Zee Companion', completed a year on the same day

BestMediaInfo Bureau | Delhi | March 10, 2015

Zee Europe is in celebration mode this month as it is reaching two major milestones on the same day. Zee TV completed 20 years in Europe on March 9, 2015, even as its Live show, 'Zee Companion', completed a year on the same day.

After its launch in India in 1992, Zee TV was launched in the UK in March 1995 to meet the entertainment demands of the South Asian community. Today, 20 years on, it continues to serve the South Asian Diaspora with its multi-genre programmes ranging from dramas, history, reality, films, news, cookery and exclusive local programming in the UK and Europe. With more than 730 million viewers in over 170 countries worldwide, Zee TV has created a strong brand equity and is the largest media franchise serving the South Asian Diaspora.

Zee Europe CEO Neeraj Dhingra remarked, “Zee TV has been a pioneer in bringing great Asian entertainment to the UK and fostering the cultural ties with India. Our objective has been to produce innovative, engaging, and creative programming for our viewers and deliver exceptional value. We are constantly striving to reach wider audiences with a desire to entertain through Indian and local content and build a sense of ownership, pride and passion amongst our employees. And this connect with our viewers and employees is what has created a Zee family.”

There have been numerous milestones for Zee TV in Europe:

1995 - Conducted the Supermodel Contest to find a male and female face to represent the Asian youth in the UK

1996 - Filmed and broadcast the UK edition of 'Antakshari', a musical game show

1997 - Filmed and broadcast 'Filmi Baatein', a show hosted by Shekhar Suman in the UK

1998 - Zee TV went Live 24 hours a day

1999 - First South Asian channel to launch English subtitling facility in the UK; launched Music Asia, UK's first 24-hour Asian music channel, which was later rebranded as Zee Muzic, and now called Zing

2000 - Hosted the international beauty pageant Miss World - Zee became the first Asian channel to host an international event of this magnitude

2001 - Launched Zee Cinema, a 24-hour film channel

2002 - Launched UK's first Punjabi language channel, Alpha ETC Punjabi

2003 - Alpha ETC Punjabi became the only regional channel to be able to increase its price in UK

2004 - Launched Alpha Punjabi in rest of Europe

2005 - Hosted the 8th Zee Cine Awards in London; launched Zee Gujarati in the UK

2006 - Hosted Zee Carnival, a three-day event featuring an array of top Bollywood and Zee stars; became the only Asian television network to provide dual language subtitling facilities through teletext in English and French across Europe

2007 - Entered the Russian mainstream television industry with the launch of Zee TV Russia, a complete entertainment and lifestyle channel in the Russian language

2008 - Hosted Zee Cine Awards again, becoming the only international territory to host the Awards twice in a single location

2009 - Hosted Zee Carnival again by popular demand in London

2010 - Launched Zee Cafe

2011 - Broadcast the ICC World Cup Cricket in Hindi exclusively on Zee Cafe

2012 - Launched Cinematic Cricket, a special scheduling slot for Live and exclusive international cricket series on Zee Cinema

2013 - Launched Lamhe, UK's first nostalgic Asian entertainment channel; launched Cloud 9, UK's first Brit-Asian weekday drama series shot in London

2014 - Launched 'Zee Companion', a local and Live show

Launched last year, 'Zee Companion' acts as an interactive portal between viewers, hosts and experts. Some of the guests who have appeared and interacted Live with viewers on the show include Jay Sean, Nana Patekar, Paresh Rawal, Kumar Sanu, Shabana Azmi, Tarun Tahiliani, Jimmy Shergill, Sukhwinder Singh, Kabir Bedi, Nina Manuel, Madhoo, Preeya Kalidas, Pritam Chakraborty, Satinder Sartaj, Anandji (Kalyanji-Anandji fame), celebrity chef Cyrus Todiwala, centenarian marathon Runner Fauja Singh and many more. Business tycoons such as Hussein Lalani, Shahnaz Husain, Lord GK Noon, and Rami Ranger have interacted with viewers and given expert advice. The show covers a variety of topics in the fields of health, law, finance, wellness, business, education and entertainment.

On viewers' demand, the show's time slot was recently extended from 30 minutes to 60 minutes. The show has also roped in two new hosts providing different insights on issues/ topics.

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