Zee Telugu
 | |
| Country | India |
|---|---|
| Broadcast area | Worldwide |
| Headquarters | Hyderabad, Telangana, India |
| Programming | |
| Language(s) | Telugu |
| Picture format |
1080i HDTV (downscaled to 576i for the SDTV feed) |
| Ownership | |
| Owner |
Zee Entertainment Enterprises (merger with Culver Max Entertainment pending) |
| History | |
| Launched | 12 September 2004 |
| Replaced | Alpha TV Telugu |
Zee Telugu is an Indian Telugu language general entertainment pay television channel in India. It was launched on 12 September 2004 as Alpha Telugu and was rebranded as Zee Telugu on 18 May 2005. The channel is owned by Zee Entertainment Enterprises. Zee Entertainment Enterprises also launched a Telugu movie channel named Zee Cinemalu in September 2016.
Establishment
In 2004, Zee Network had channels in Bengali, Gujarati, Marathi, and Punjabi. Its proposed Telugu-language channel making its first entry in southern region was expected to launch by August 2004, but the launch did not take place until September. The channel launched with the name Alpha TV Telugu, but was later renamed to Zee Telugu. It initially featured a large number of American films dubbed into Telugu. In August 2007, the network also dubbed Bollywood film Sholay from Hindi into Telugu as an experiment.
History
In September 2005, the channel announced that Sanjay Reddy would be their new chief executive officer, succeeding Ajay Kumar, who had left several months previously. Reddy had previously worked at The Walt Disney Company and Pearl Media.
By December 2005, Zee Telugu had only achieved a 1.24% weekday and 1.86% weekend market share in Andhra Pradesh. As a result, it re-launched in order to shift the target market from a mass market to a segmented market of young professionals.
In late 2006, Zee Telugu began work on Sa Re Ga Ma Pa, a Telugu-language singing competition, and was scheduled to run for 35 episodes. Zee Telugu announced plans to launch Little Champs, a version of the show aimed at viewers ages 6–13, hosted by N. C. Karunya.
Sister channel
Zee Cinemalu
Zee Cinemalu is an Indian Telugu movies pay television channel offers Telugu language movies. It launched on 4 September 2016 and it is the sister channel of Zee Telugu. The channel is owned by Zee Entertainment Enterprises.
Programming
Reception
| Week | Year | BARC Viewership | Ref. | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mega Cities | Rank | |||
| Week 23 | 2021 | 280.29 | 5 | |
| Week 25 | 2021 | 295.83 | 5 | |
| Week 13 | 2023 | 267.21 | 5 | |
| Week 16 | 2023 | 289.06 | 5 | |
| Week 17 | 2023 | 284.44 | 4 | |
| Week 22 | 2023 | 278.77 | 5 | |
| Week 26 | 2023 | 283.38 | 5 | |
| Week 30 | 2023 | 300.34 | 5 | |