ZEE completes 20 years in Europe

ZEE Europe, a South Asian Entertainment Network known for continually entertaining and engaging audiences with a unique blend of high-quality and innovative programming is in celebration mode this month as it is reaching two major milestones on the same day. Today, it is the completion of 20 years of Zee TV in Europe as well as the completion of one year of its unique Live show Zee Companion.

After its launch in India in 1992, Zee TV came to the UK in March 1995 to meet the entertainment demands of the South Asian community. Today, twenty 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 that educate, inspire, and entertain audiences 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 said, “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!”

In the last 20 years, Zee TV has been not only a television channel, but a celebration of hopes & dreams. Pioneering in all genres of entertainment, it has given its viewers some of the most loved shows on South Asian television. It created shows such as Dance India Dance and Sa Re Ga Ma Pa that started a revolution. Thought provoking shows like Saat Phere, Agle Janam Mohe Bitiya Hi Kijo and Punar Vivaah brought about a social change. Through its shows, it has helped create some of the most renowned names such as Sanjeev Kapoor, Sonu Nigam and Shreya Ghoshal.

There have been numerous milestones for Zee TV in Europe and here are some of its key achievements that takes one down memory lane:
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 landmark musical game show
1997 - Filmed and broadcast Filmi Baatein, a popular 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 unique local and Live show

Zee TV has always aimed to establish a connection with its viewers and has several local programmes through which it maintains an unrivalled local connect in Europe. Its Live and local show Zee Companion is a show to help viewers find solutions to their problems giving them a chance to interact with experts in a variety of fields.

Zee Companion is a one-of-a-kind LIVE show that acts as an interactive portal between viewers, hosts and experts. The show’s affable hosts act as companions to the viewer and share experiences, discuss issues and aid them in getting proper guidance and advice from a renowned panel of experts. Some prominent guests who have appeared and interacted Live with viewers 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. Esteemed Business tycoons Hussein Lalani, Shahnaz Husain, Lord G K Noon, 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.

Due to an immense response from viewers, 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. Zee Companion’s popularity is only increasing by the day and a record high number of phone calls is a testimony to this. Episodes of popular and loved celebrities like Jimmy Shergill and Kumar Sanu received 270 and 228 phone calls respectively.

This makes Zee TV the most viewed South Asian Network and a pioneer in South Asian TV programming. As it celebrates its 20 year anniversary, Zee TV is confident that it will continue to celebrate several more milestones in the future.