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Mumbai (pte036/17.12.2004/14:30) - Global media giant Walt Disney http://www.disney.go.com has launched its first two television channels in India. As the BBC http://www.bbc.co.uk reports, it is the company's first attempt to break into a market in which it estimates there are more than 100 million children below 10 years of age. The two channels - The Disney Channel and Toon Disney - are being broadcast in three regional Indian languages apart from English. The two new channels will be available in English and Hindi in northern India and in Telugu and Tamil in the south. The company has linked with India's Star TV network to distribute the channels.
The channels will target different age groups at different times. As the BBC reports, morning slots on Disney will target pre-school children with education-based entertainment programmes. However, older children and adults will be offered established Disney films such as The Lion King and Honey I Shrunk the Kids. According to Rajat Jain, managing director of Walt Disney Television International in India, there is a lot of focus on catering to local needs and tastes. "For the first time, 24-hour Tamil and Telugu language kids channels are being launched. There will be programmes with Indian interactivity, interviews and Indian concepts," said Jain. "There will be lots of original programming," he added.
Up until 2001, Turner International's Cartoon Network was the only children's channel in India. However, this year alone, three new channels have been launched - UTV's Hungama, Sony's Animax and Turner's POGO. According to Jain, his channels will be successful, despite the launches of other children's channels this year. "Indian children spend only 10 per cent of their television viewing time watching kids' channels and we believe that this is due to a lack of high quality programming which parents can trust and kids would like to see," he said.
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