MUMBAI: After the successful launch of its dedicated Zee TV beam for Singapore, Zee Network has announced that it will further extend its South East Asia beam.

The Subhash Chandra promoted network will now have a customised feed to Hong Kong, Philippines, Indonesia, Thailand and Japan.

Speaking on the launch of the service, Zee Telefilms president Abhijit Saxena said, "Zee Telefilms is proud to announce the extension of the South East Asia beam of Zee TV to Hong Kong, Indonesia, Philippines, Thailand and Japan. It was the overwhelming response from our viewers in these regions that compelled us to extend our local beam with customised programming strategy for Hong Kong, Philippines, Indonesia, Thailand and Japan. The viewers of these regions will now be able to watch Zee TV shows at their local time and not deferred time as they were earlier receiving the India feed."

"With this extension, Zee TV will now have a viewer-driven programming schedule. We will also be taking local programming initiatives for these countries. It also opens up opportunities for advertisers who currently face extremely high advertising rates on the India feed," Saxena added.

The local feed to the rest of South East Asia will coincide with prime time in different markets and concurrently the values of airtime inventory will be according to locally relevant and competitive rates, says a company release.

The timings for Hong Kong and Philippines will be the same as Singapore, whereas Thailand and Indonesia will be an hour before Singapore and Japan an hour after Singapore.

According to the release, besides the programmes being aired at a time convenient to viewers, the entertainement channel will have a flexible program schedule to cater to the preferences of viewers in these countries.

Besides the entertainment feed, the channel will also air three news bulletins every day, Hindi pop and film music based programs, Bollywood based programs and local programs.