UTV to launch 'Bindass', a youth broadcasting venture

New Delhi, Feb 22 (UNI) After catering to entertainment needs of children through ventures like Hungama TV and announcing launch of two kid's channels in Malaysia and Indonesia, UTV is now striving to meet the entertainment needs of the youth of the country through a new youth broadcast venture.

Ready for launch in mid 2007 is 'BINDASS', the youth broadcast venture of UTV, to be launched in association with Malaysia-based media company Astro Measat.

A 360 degree entertainment brand, 'Bindaas' includes the entire gamut of entertainment option for the youth: television channels, a mobile channel, 3 web sites, creation of original games, merchandising, retail and nationwide ground events providing Indian Youth with an array of choices.

The plans for the venture include the launch of multiple channels across languages in India and Southeast Asia, said Zarina Mehta, COO of the Youth Venture.

''The only media we are not entering are Radio and Print where we plan to work with strong partners,''says Mehta.

The name 'Bindass' was arrived at after an in-depth quantitative Brand Name Test conducted by research agency Synovate India with youth aged 15-24 years.

''Fun, Frank, Fearless and valuing Freedom in all its forms, 'Bindass' captures the essence of our brand's values,''Mehta said.

''We have used all our Hungama learning's in creating the new youth brand, including 3 months of intensive research. Just the name test is not enough; we also conducted a detailed qualitative study with Probe Qualitative Research (PQR), the qualitative division of IMRB International and are in the process of a large quantitative Usage and Attitudes Study with Synovate.

The research findings along with our own belief in what the Indian youth want, led us to arrive at 'Bindass' as the name for India's first Local Youth Entertainment Brand,''Mehta said.

On the reasons for venturing into a venture aimed at providing wholesome entertainment for youth, Mehta said,''the youth segment forms 23 per cent of viewership in cable and satellite 1 lakh + homes and is currently underserved by existing broadcast offerings.'' The youth centric channel has an outlay of Rs 200 crores.

The announcement of the youth venture follows close of the heels of UTV recently entering into a business co-operation arrangement with Astro to set up kid's channels in Malaysia and Indonesia. Astro Ceria successfully launched on the Astro platform last year. Today, in Malaysia, four of the top five kids shows are on Astro Ceria.

UNI