Zee enters Philippines with Bollywood channel - Zee Sine

After launching two Bollywood channels in the APAC region – Zee Bioskop in Indonesia and Zee Nung in Thailand – Zee Entertainment Enterprises Limited (ZEEL) has become the first Indian company to foray into the Philippines with its third dedicated Bollywood movie channel – Zee Sine – for the local Filipino audience starting today.

Announcing Zee’s entry into the Philippines, Amit Goenka, CEO – International Broadcast Business, ZEEL, said, “Zee has been the cultural ambassador for Bollywood and Indian content in overseas markets. In line with our Vision 2020 goals, we have chalked out an aggressive international expansion plan, with APAC being one of the key regions. We already have five dedicated localised channels in APAC, comprising GEC and movie genres, and our entry into the Philippines will only further strengthen our presence. With the Pay-TV industry projected to grow at an average of 13 per cent Y-o-Y in the next five years, we see huge potential in this market.”

Zee Sine - Bollywood Na Tayo (‘Sine’ means ‘Cinema’ and ‘Bollywood Na Tayo’ means ‘Let’s Go Bollywood’ in Tagalog) is a 24x7 Bollywood movie channel, customised and packaged for the local audience. The channel will feature blockbuster movies from Zee’s Hindi film library.

Speaking on the launch of Zee Sine, Sushruta Samanta, Business Head – Asia Pacific, Zee, said, “Both India and the Philippines display strong affinity for music and dance. Our research shows that Bollywood films are relatable as the stories hit close to home, reflecting similar emotions and values shown in Filipino movies. While other content from around the world has entered the Philippines already, we plan to bring a fresh and unique perspective by launching Zee Sine in the Philippines. We felt it is the right time for us to enter this market and showcase our heart-warming and larger-than-life Bollywood movies to the Filipino audience.”

“Maria Liza Ginting, who currently heads our Indonesia market, will also be heading the Philippines operations along with the local team in Manila,” Samanta further said.

Sharing more details on the channel, Maria Liza Young - Ginting, Country Head, Indonesia & Philippines, said, “Zee Sine will take you to a new world of entertainment with high-voltage Bollywood dramas, love triangles, comedies and song and dance. To reach out to the local audience, we have hand-picked movies from the library, dubbed in Tagalog, re-christened movie titles and character names in English while promos and special movie properties are being locally created. The channel is being distributed through one of the leading cable distributors in the country, Cable Boss, and will soon be available on more platforms in the market.”

The channel will be showcased at PCTA (Philippine Cable TV Association Inc.) Convention 2016, which is one of the biggest Pay-TV operators conventions in the Philippines, to be held between April 12 and 15, 2016.