SONY SIX launches Hindi Feed for TNA

SONY SIX, India’s  sports and entertainment channel announced launch of the Hindi feed for their premier wrestling entertainment property – Total Non-stop Action (TNA).  Starting 6^th June, 2015, every weekend at 9pm, the channel will air 2 hours of the best of wrestling entertainment in Hindi across India. The announcement comes as a major development in response to the growing popularity of Mahabali Shera, the first-ever Indian wrestler on TNA. This announcement also marks a significant investment by SONY SIX towards the growth of wrestling programming across the Indian market.

The televised show hours will be encapsulated under the branding ‘Shera ki Kahaani’ that will feature India’s very own Mahabali Shera aka Amanpreet Singh and follow his storyline right from his entry in TNA, a major step forward towards bolstering Shera’s following in the country. The development follows the recent announcement of TNA and Sony SIX having signed a long-term deal that will make the channel the exclusive home for all TNA-based content until 2022.

To garner viewer interest, the channel has initiated an on-air campaign, including promos inviting viewers to catch his story exclusively on SONY SIX. Through this initiative, the channel aims at expanding their current programming reach amongst the vast Hindi-speaking population which also follows combat sports keenly.

SONY SIX has pioneered the local language feed offering for prime sporting properties, which has further contributed to its viewership growth. The channel initiated the local feed option by airing the 2014 FIFA World cup for the first time ever in Bengali. Following its overwhelming success, the channel also offered multiple regional feeds including Telegu, Tamil and Bengali for the PEPSI IPL 2015. Following suit, the channel will now exclusively showcase the global wrestling entertainment event in Hindi.

Speaking on the announcement, Mr. Prasana Krishnan, Business Head, SONY SIX and SONY KIX commented, ‘‘We are really excited to announce the launch of an alternative language feed for TNA as with this initiative we move into the next phase of expanding the popularity of TNA in India. This endeavour aligns with our commitment to constantly innovate and offer localized content to appeal to the taste of our Indian viewers. Shera’s introduction has managed to further Brand TNA in the country, and now with the launch of local feed, we aim to further expand the sampling of the sport amongst the mass viewership demographic in India.”

The channel is optimistic that the introduction of local feed will help enhance the viewing experience of the sport, resulting in the growth in popularity and consumption of sports entertainment-based properties in India. Through this announcement, SONY SIX, through a local connect, has expressed its vision of exponentially growing and reaching out to a broader fan base for TNA in India.