MUMBAI: Multi Screen Media’s (MSM) sports and entertainment channel Sony Six has launched the Hindi feed for its wrestling entertainment property – Total Non-stop Action (TNA).
Starting 6 June, 2015, every weekend at 9pm, the channel will air two hours of the wrestling entertainment in Hindi across India. The announcement comes as a major development in response to the growing popularity of Mahabali Shera, the first-ever Indian wrestler on TNA. This also marks a significant investment by Sony Six towards the growth of wrestling programming across the Indian market.
The televised show hours will be encapsulated under the branding Shera ki Kahaani that will feature Mahabali Shera aka Amanpreet Singh and follow his storyline right from his entry in TNA.
It may be recalled that recently TNA and Sony Six signed a long-term deal, wherein the channel will be the exclusive home for all TNA-based content until 2022.
To garner viewer interest, the channel has initiated an on-air campaign, including promos inviting viewers to catch his story exclusively on Sony Six. Through this initiative, the channel aims at expanding its current programming reach amongst the vast Hindi-speaking market, which also follows combat sports keenly.
Sony Six and Sony Kix business head Prasana Krishnan said, ‘‘We are really excited to announce the launch of an alternative language feed for TNA as with this initiative we move into the next phase of expanding the popularity of TNA in India. This endeavour aligns with our commitment to constantly innovate and offer localized content to appeal to the taste of our Indian viewers. Shera’s introduction has managed to further Brand TNA in the country, and now with the launch of local feed, we aim to further expand the sampling of the sport amongst the mass viewership demographic in India.”
Sony Six has been experimenting with the local language feed offering for prime sporting properties, which has further contributed to its viewership growth. The channel initiated the local feed option by airing the 2014 FIFA World Cup for the first time ever in Bengali. Following its success, the channel also offered multiple regional feeds including Telegu, Tamil and Bengali for the Pepsi IPL 2015.
