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Sriram Srinivasan

CHENNAI, April 17

IT'S a minor segment as far as ratings go, but that hasn't prevented television houses from charting out plans to launch exclusive music channels down South. Following the footsteps of Southern Spice (SS) Music, channels such as Raj and Star are looking to tap this segment by wooing the youth.

Raj, which plans to roll out its free-to-air music channel on May 23, has decided to dish out music in all South Indian languages, in addition to English and Hindi. The Raj's Associate Vice-President (Sales & Marketing), Mr R. Radhakrishnan, believes that the space for music channels has opened up in the South, as viewers have accepted channels with a difference.

He says the launch of SS Music has changed the market's perception that the Southern viewer would not accept MTV- and Channel V-type programming.

Two-year-old SS Music announced in February that it has higher viewership than MTV and Channel V in Chennai, and is second to MTV in other Southern States. Mr Bryan Oliver Peppin, Head of Programming and Production, SS Music, says the channel's "attitude, class and style" clicked with its target audience of 15-24 year-olds in SEC A and B centres. He also feels that the channel's predominantly Southern film music combined with English compering has worked well — bringing in a new class of viewers.

Nearly 70 per cent of SS Music's content is in South Indian languages, with Tamil taking the lion's share. English music, and to a lesser extent Hindi, takes up the remaining slots. Raj is planning a similar break-up. Star's Channel V is betting wholly on Tamil music.

In a recent press conference in Chennai, the Chief Operating Officer of Star India Pvt Ltd, Mr Sameer Nair, said the group was toying with the idea of a Tamil version of Channel V. Star sources, however, say the idea is still on the drawing board and the launch may happen only next year.

But with a share of less than one per cent, the music channels are surely not crowding in for the big bucks. Mr Peppin says that for most channels a foray into the music segment helps them to work out competitive package deals for advertisers. Industry watchers agree. They say launching a music channel would not be difficult (as the software cost is negligible) but competing in a keenly contested, minor segment would be. Although music channels would give these players an opportunity to diversify their offerings both to the viewers and advertisers, analysts warn that if these channels were not able to create a niche for themselves, viewers would prefer to watch similar programming in general entertainment channels.

For the time being, though, the channels are gearing up for competition among themselves. Raj, which has a well-stocked library of Tamil and Telugu songs, has started acquiring telecast rights for Hindi, English, Malayalam and Kannada numbers, says Mr Radhakrishnan. Welcoming more players in the music space, SS Music's Mr Peppin says his channel's USP is its presentation style. As regards the content, the channel has converted its once-a-week Hindi pop programme, Gaana Bajaana, into a six-days-a-week show. Considering the "substantial" following for Hindi music in the South, the channel also proposes to include Bollywood songs as fillers.

The present and potential television music players also remain unfazed by the prospect of competition from private FM stations, which are expected to go on air in major cities shortly. While Raj's Mr Radhakrishnan says FM channels will cater mainly to people on the move, and thus would not hurt television viewership, Mr Peppin sees a slight drop in viewership, and that too only initially.

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