Adgully Exclusive | In conversation with Steve Marcopoto on Turner's future plans

The Indian General Entertainment space has been very dynamic and highly competitive in the last few years. As new channels are sprouting and acquisitions are being made within a blink of an eye. A few days ago, we saw Sameer Nair the former Chief Executive Officer of Turner General Entertainment Networks leaving the network. The operation of Imagine TV will be completely integrated into Turner Broadcasting System Asia-Pacific (TBSAP) after Nair's resignation. With this integration, Turner begins a new journey as far general entertainment plans are concerned in the country.

In an exclusive interview with Adgully, Steve Marcopoto, President Turner Broadcasting Systems Asia Pacific (TBSAP) talks about future plans for the company.

Marcopoto said, "Sunny Saha, SVP & GM for the entertainment networks of TBSAP will spearhead Imagine in the interim period. Under the new management, Imagine will be better positioned to benefit from the relationship with its sister Turner networks in India in the same way that leading brands such as Cartoon Network, CNN, HBO, Pogo and WB leverage their shared expertise and resources today. With the exception of Sameer's direct reports being reassigned, nothing changes."

With a history of distinctive original programming Imagine has reached significant viewership levels (as high as 172 GRP's last year). "The channel is an established, well-recognized brand, with a solid audience base but the GE genre is hypercompetitive and all the players within it have faced dramatic swings at one time or another in their own right. That is the nature of the beast. We are simply facing one such swing at present and are integrating ourselves to come back strong in pursuit of long term success," he further said when asked about modifying content for the channel.

Marcopoto further reconfirmed that in terms of people, there will be no other realignment other than Nair's direct reports.

Turner Broadcasting has had a long interesting history in this genre in the country and now one must wait and see to find out how these changes have an impact at a later stage. | By Janees Antoo [janees(at)adgully.com]