MUMBAI: The launch of Jalsha Movies, the Bengali movie channel from Star India stable, will grow the genre by 25-30 per cent, a senior executive said.

The Bengali movie genre is a new space which currently has only one player in Zee Bangla Cinema, which launched on 23 September.

Jalsha Movies, which will launch on 16 December, has been positioned as Bengal?s biggest movie hall. The channel has roped in Vivel as the channel partner.

?There are not many movie theatres in West Bengal, though they have grown in the past few years. With Jalsha Movies we want to take the latest blockbusters to people sitting back at home in Bengal," says Star India president ad sales and Star Jalsha GM Kevin Vaz.

"We are redefining the pleasure of watching movies by bringing the biggest movie hall in Bengal to every Bengali home," he added.

There is a huge apetite for movies among Bengali television audiences and the launch of a Bengali movie channel will fill in the need gap.

?On Star Jalsha we used to air movies on weekends and Bengal is a very big movie market. The blockbusters that we have aired in the past have got ratings of 10-12 TVR. So there is a huge movie consumption in Bengali market. We can grow it in a big way,? Vaz avers.

The channel has signed a five-year pact with Bengali production house Shree Venkatesh Films which will allow Jalsha Movies to source latest movies. Jalsha Movies is launching with 350 titles under its belt.

?Shree Venkatesh Films produces 60-70 per cent of Bengali movies and we will have them all. We will have all the recent hits in past 5-7 years going forward," Vaz asserts.

Targeted at SEC A and B, Jalsha Movies will be free-to-air initially but will go pay eventually.

It will be available on all cable platforms including Manthan, DigiCable and Siti Cable apart from DTH platforms like Tata Sky, Videocon d2h and Airtel digital TV from the day of its launch.

"This will be one of the best distributed channels. It will be available from day one on all the DTH platforms as well as each and every cable network," he declares.

Jalsha Movies has signed West Bengal?s superstar Dev as its brand ambassador. The channel will commence its journey with the World Television Premiere of Jeet-starrer ?Awara?.

The channel is being promoted through 400 plus outdoor sites across cities in West Bengal. Jalsha Movies is also being promoted across 100 movie theaters in Bengal besides print and social media.

The channel will be heavily promoted on Star India network channels as well as news and music channels outside Star?s bouquet, with around 30 spots everyday on these channels.

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Star to enter Bengali movie channel space; Jalsha Movies to launch on 16 December

MUMBAI: News Corp-owned broadcast network Star India is all set to launch a Bengali movie channel on 16 December.

The channel is named Jalsha Movies and will make its appearance in Bengal three months after Zee Entetainment Enterprises launched Zee Bangla Cinema.

"We are launching a Bengali movie channel next week," says Star India chief executive officer Uday Shankar.

Star has inked an exclusive five-year deal with a leading production house to source latest movies. It has also roped in Vivel as the channel partner for Jalsha Movies.

Jalsha Movies will be a free-to-air channel initially and will eventually go pay. Star is present in Bengal through its regional general entertainment channel, Star Jalsha.

The channel will commence its journey with the World Television Premiere of mega hit, Superstar Jeet starrer Awara. Bengali superstar Dev has been roped in as the brand ambassador of Jalsha Movies.

Star?s Bengali movie channel launches at a time when Kolkata is transitioning towards digital cable TV.

Star claims to have an unmatched stock of the largest Bengali blockbusters of recent times.

Zee Bangla Cinema business head Sujay Kutty believes that the launch of another channel augurs well for the Bengali movie genre. "It (Jalsha Movies launch) will expand the market. It has been good for Zee Bangla Cinema as people are getting into watching movies. Bengal is a very dynamic market and every year a lot of good quality movies are being made," he says.

Kutty also believes that the launch of Jalsha Movies will not cause a major spike in movie acquisition costs. "Unlike Hindi movie channels, there is a certain threshold beyond which people won?t pay to acquire movies because the RoI is not as big as Hindi movies channels," he avers.