After successfully connecting with audiences in Telugu and Bengali less than a year back, National Geographic Channel will now connect with the over 72 million Tamil speaking community across Tamil Nadu.

With this launch, Nat Geo is now present in Bengali, Telugu, Tamil and Hindi apart from English.National Geographic Channel, through the 24 hour Tamil feed, will showcase their properties across science, technology, history, culture, nature and wildlife.

National Geographic Network and Fox International channels senior VP marketing Debarpita Banerjee said, "After successfully launching in regional languages like Hindi, Bengali and Telugu, we are extremely excited to bring the dynamic programming of National Geographic Channel to the doorsteps of the Tamil speaking community in the state of Tamil Nadu.

In a state, which is already known for its intellectual capacities, we are proud to offer our viewers fast paced and edgy shows, re-emphasizing our commitment towards creating every minute an amazing moment for our viewers and leaving them with thrilling and entertaining experience."

A media buyer notes that having regional feeds will help National Geographic grow revenue by increasing rates.

"The extent of it will depend on the improvement in performance. But over a period of time, they will be able to charge more; the increase in rates does not happen immediately," he said.

Nat Geo is moving in the right direction by increasing its footprint. "In markets like Tamil Nadu there is good demand for infotainment content in the local language. Discovery has had good results with regional feeds. National Geographic should also benefit if viewership incraeses in those markets by a good margin. I also see a certain amount of positive impact on distribution revenue," said another media buyer who did not want his name to be revealed.


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http://www.indiantelevision.com/headlines/y2k11/june/june122.php