ZEE TV UK celebrates ten years on air
Everyone’s favourite Asian TV channel ZEE TV is celebrating its tenth year on air today. We go back down memory lane to see how the channel captured the hearts of millions.
ZEE TV launched in the UK back on 1st March 1995 replacing the then TV Asia channel. ZEE had already created ripples in the industry with its charttopping shows Tara, Andaz and Banegi Apni Baat. The same was achieved with the import of Indian shows into the UK market.
After being the first Asian TV channel to launch on UK satellite, ZEE TV won numerous awards for its innovative programming. The channel won over viewers with its unique concept of family dramas blended with musical gameshows and blockbuster movies.
ZEE TV was also the first to go all out in using outdoor billboard marketing. In 1997 and 1998, ZEE TV also won numerous awards for its excellence in broadcasting.
Over the years, ZEE TV has entertained us with mega hit shows like Amanat, Parampara, Antakshari, Sa Re Ga Ma (now known as Sa Re Ga Ma Pa), Hip Hip Hurray, Koshish Ek Asha, Hum Paanch and many many others.
ZEE also understands the crucial importance of keeping abreast of issues which affect the South Asian community and is the only channel to telecast a local news bulletin every weekday keeping viewers updated with news, views and analysis from an Asian perspective.
In 1999, ZEE Network UK went digital by switching over their analogue signal to a crystal clear vision and sound digital transmission. Along with ZEE TV, two further channels were introduced to the UK market- Music Asia, the first Asian music channel to land on British shores and also Alpha Bangla. The former was re-branded and given a major overhaul a few months later and was renamed ZEE Music. However, the latter was replaced a few months later with ZEE Cinema, the network’s popular movie channel.
In the summer of 2000, ZEE launched its fourth channel Alpha ETC Punjabi, joining hands with popular Punjabi entertainment channel ETC Punjabi for seven hours of live and exclusive coverage from the Golden Temple in Amritsar.
This year, will see a further two new channels added to ZEE’s bouquet of colourful channels. Alpha Gujarati will be launched on Monday 28th March 2005 and later this spring will see ZEE’s South Asia World (SAW) launching. SAW will be ZEE Network’s first news channel in the UK.
Now ten years later, ZEE still reigns supreme and remains the number one channel in the UK and Europe with over a million viewers. Today the ZEE Network in the UK is the largest Asian television network with five amazing channels – ZEE TV, ZEE Music, ZEE Cinema, Alpha ETC Punjabi and Alpha Gujarati.
Rewind some of ZEE’s memories with classic channel idents of ZEE TV, ZEE Music and ZEE Cinema below.
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