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‘Derana’:
A new TV Channel for Lankan family audiences
Anup Chandrasekharan, CEO of Derana, the newest television station
in Sri Lanka gave a sneak preview to TV Times on the Channel’s
strategy and positioning.
Derana
will start its test transmission from today, Sunday, on UHF 37 for
Western Province between 7.00 pm- 8.30 pm
About
Derana -
Derana
is a Sinhala channel for the family audiences. We will showcase
good quality entertainment programmes,it will be a premium channel
in the mass market segment.
We
have lined up a variety of programmes from innovative game shows,reality
show, magazine format programmes, classical teledramas and Musical
programmes.
The
mix offered will be different from what the market has seen and
it will connect with the viewers.
Our
programmes are aspirational,we believe in giving a perfect blend
.We believe in the values of marriage, family, respect for elders,
education.
In terms of dress, language and dialogues, it will be truly Sri
Lankan.
Timing
of the launch
‘The launch date of Derana was fixed more than a year back
and it is the beginning of festive season. This is the ideal time
to launch a TV channel and it is a coincidence that Presidential
Elections are also being held at the same time. ‘So we are
hopeful of getting advertisng through that as well’ Anup said.
Origin
of the channel
‘We have done extensive research and viewer feedback before
venturing in to this business ,andhave been working on this project
for the last two years. Our market research clearly indicated a
market need for a good quality Sinhala channel and a lot of research
and indepth study has gone in to the making of each show and our
programme line up’.
According
to Anup, the idea of launching the channel originates from the fact
that there is opportunity for a good quality Sinhala channel and
the segment or market remains untapped.
Differentiator
‘The viewers in Sri Lanka are exposed to programmes that are
very soap centric, our programming mix will offer variety. Comedy,
Magazine format programmes and good game shows will have a lot of
space on our channel.’
‘Soaps will take only 10% of our programming time on our channel.
We don't want to be different for the sake of being different, we
want to give viewers a choice vis a vis competition, our philosophy
and strategy is diversity and choice. We don't want to waste time
saying that we want to be a No.1 or No.2 player , we want to be
the best player in this business’ he added
50% of the production is done inhouse and comedies and teledramas
commissioned to some well know names from the Sri Lankan entertainment
industry
‘We
are very keen to promote and provide opportunities for the local
market to evolve, hence our dependance on sourcing content from
other countries will be limited. We are currently not looking at
sourcing any international formats, if we do it will be in keeping
with the Sri Lankan culture in mind’ Anup emphasized.
On
Competition
‘The content that we have to offer in the mass market will
be totally different, as other terrestrial operators depend a lot
on imported content, ours will be 98% locally produced premium quality
content. Our ideas, look and feel are fresh and will be different
from what others offer.
We are getting in to the fray with the belief that there is no competition
for our content.
On
Sales -
Derana is keen in working with the trade .
‘Our Sales strategy and philosophy would be consistency and
transparency.
Our Rate card will be simple and infact the Rates of the programme
and FPC will be in one page. We are also going to call our Sales
Executives as Account Executives and Account Managers, we are very
clear that we value trade and they will get their ROI by investing
in us.We are strictly going to adhere to the policy of not more
than 300 secs.of advertising time for a half hour programme’.
‘We
are confident that advertisers will realize that it is an effective
medium to reach out to their audiences.’ Derana will reach
the Lankan audiences soon and will create a real TV culture in Sri
Lanka.
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