Splash: A channel for serious kids

Chennai: Splash channel, a new channel for kids, who have just outgrown Cartoon Network and who are a bit young to watch MTV, is on the air. The new channel is expected to offer a broad variety of programmes for this niche audience.

While our focus will be on the kids in the age group of 10 to 14 years, there will also be programmes for toddlers (three to five years) and seven-to-10-year old children, says P S Sundaram, director & CEO, Intelivision Ltd, the company that owns Splash.

There is not a single channel that targets the 10-to-14-year-old age bracket and that too with a purpose of teaching children various values, he says. Even Cartoon Network, the popular childrens channel doesnt have shows that cater to this age group. This free-to-air digital channel is positioned as a students channel with shows like Pot Pourri, Splash-O-Paedia and Splash-In, hosted by and for children.

Positioning itself as a fun, informative and young channel, Splashs programming philosophy revolves around three aspects - edutainment, infotainment and entertainment. Programmes from movies to music adventure to sports will feature on this channel, apart from animation, live action, feature films, music, dance and educational and informative programmes.

Says vice-president (programming) Rabi Bernard: The programming mix is education and infotainment (25 per cent each) and entertainment (50 per cent); 25 per cent of the programmes are produced in-house. We have tied up with Columbia Tristar, Universal Studios, Warner Brothers, BBC and Sony for content, apart from some local companies.

Dependence on overseas content will slowly go down, believes Bernard. For the channel, sourcing overseas content is cost-effective than producing programmes. While this is an English channel, multiple language feeds - predominantly English, Hindi and Tamil - will be offered once the companys teleport facility is made operational.

Can an exclusive childrens channel be successful? A total investment of Rs 5 crore have gone into the venture. Sundaram is gung-ho about the prospects: We hope to rake in Rs 30 lakh to 40 lakh per month after March 2002. The channel will be earning revenues from this month onwards.

Says marketing manager Vishnu Athreya: Even if we take the ad market for niche channels at 1 per cent of the total television ad spend, the figure is an impressive Rs 40 crore. Already, the channel has roped in advertisers like Johnson & Johnson, Band-Aid and VGP Amusement Park. Toffee-makers like Parry and Nutrine are showing interest, says Athreya. Ads will go up when the channel is beamed nationwide.

Curiously, the channel doesnt have an ad-rate card. For now, the rates are negotiable -similar to mainline channels - and attractive packages could be worked out. For instance Johnson & Johnson wanted to get into schools, so a special package has been devised to suit the companys market focus.

Presently, Splash is visible in Mumbai, Chennai, Hyderabad, Kochi, Bangalore and Mangalore. Intelivision is in talks with the Hindujas and Hathway Cable to feed the channel in cities where they have a presence. The focus is to beam the channel in top cities. While ad from Splash will be the main revenue-earner for Intelivision, it has two other revenue streams. The company produces content for other channels and also sells media-related software solutions. Broadcast Log and Libman are the two software solutions that the company is now selling, says Sundaram.

At the corporate level, Intelivision is now no more a wholly-owned subsidiary of Pentamedia Graphics. The latters stake in the channel company has come down to 30 per cent with Vesa Holdings subscribing to Rs 1 crore private placement made by Intelivision.