HYDERABAD: June 15, 2004
IANS

Sneha, the first overseas Telugu satellite television channel, is set to have a full-fledged launch soon to cater to Telugu-speaking people in the United States and Europe.

Sneha, which launched a one-hour programme in a few US cities in 2002, is to provide round-the-clock programmes and hopes to reach 200,000 subscribers this year. There are an estimated 700,000 Telugu speaking people in the US .

A group of investors launched the channel with an initial investment of $1.5 million. The Virginia-based channel now plans to raise $2 million through venture capital firms. The subscription for the channel is $14.95 per month.

The channel, the first Telugu channel to originate in the US , was formally launched by Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy last week. He hoped that the channel would keep alive the rich Telugu culture among Telugu-speaking Indian Americans.

Former chief minister N. Chandrababu Naidu also expressed his best wishes for the channel and said this would help Telugu-speaking people to further strengthen their ties with motherland.

"It is cross-connection between their motherland and their adopted country," Ramesh Annamreddy, president and CEO of Sneha Media and Entertainment, LLC, told IANS.

The channel, launched on the direct-to-home (DTH) platform on Globecast, has also been telecasting news programmes on a pilot basis. The survey done by the company showed that people were looking for quality entertainment in their limited leisure time.

"The survey revealed that most of the viewers are reluctant to watch movies and serials on our channel. The reason is that the latest Telugu movies are available there on DVDs," he said.

Hence the channel has decided to have a package offering a mix of movies, film- based programmes, serials, other entertainment and news about their home state. To facilitate telecast of news, Sneha entered into an understanding with TV9, the first 24-hour Telugu news channel.

A memorandum of understanding (MoU) to this effect was signed by Reddy and Ravi Prakash, CEO of TV9, on Monday. Under the MoU, Sneha will telecast TV9's live news bulletins and all other programmes to its viewers in the US and Europe .

"TV9 does not have any plans to directly enter the US but it will be reaching through Sneha TV," said Ravi Prakash.

"We are packaging the channel with hourly news from TV9 and other entertainment, interactive and film based programmes," Annamreddy said.

He said the funds being raised through venture capital firms would be used to set up studios in all major cities in the US in addition to Hyderabad . The channel currently employs 73 people.

He said content would not be a problem for the channel and it would produce serials and other programmes in the US and also in Hyderabad .