MUMBAI: Zee Entertainment Enterprises Limited (ZEEL) is expanding into Germany. The Indian globally operating media company will launch a free to air channel Zee One in July 2016. Zee One will bring high-quality films and series produced by the Indian film industry to German screens 24 hours a day. Friederike Behrends will be responsible for business operations in the German-speaking area.
In addition, ZEEL’s own in-house entertainment and general interest programmes are to be progressively promoted. Zee One will be available on the most important satellite and cable platforms. Zee One’s core target group will be females between the ages of 19 and 59.
Asia TV Ltd. (Zee TV) Europe CEO Neeraj Dhingra said, "The launch of Zee One will signify ZEEL´s entry into one of the world´s most important television markets, in which the Bollywood genre is still barely represented as yet. It is therefore a major step as part of our international expansion strategy, we want to establish a lasting presence and grow in the German television market. With our highest levels of entertainment and new content, we are confident of being able to offer viewers an attractive enrichment to the existing range of television offerings."
Behrends said, “Bollywood content offers a much broader spectrum than is known on German television. The aim is to enhance Germany´s entertainment offerings by introducing an entirely new genre. We intend to capture the hearts of German viewers with Bollywood. We are currently engaged in intensive talks with German TV-platform operators with a view to expanding the reach as quickly as possible on a broad scale via all transmission paths."
Until recently, Friederike Behrends was, among other things, senior strategy advisor for the international streaming provider Magine, being responsible for its German market entry in 2014. From 2008 to 2012, she was managing director of WDR media group digital GmbH and the full-service internet agency web Colony in Cologne. She took over these positions after becoming a member of the board of directors at Bild.-T-Online.de AG & Co. KG, where she had worked since 2001. Previous career stages included a period at Grundy UFA TV Productions GmbH.
