Dubai: The Indian media group, Madhyamam Broadcasting ltd., is launching a second TV channel — the Malayalam language MediaOne Gulf from April 24 — targeted at building its viewership and advertising numbers in this region.
MediaOne Gulf, an exclusive channel for some four million Keralite expatriates in the Gulf, will go on air on April 24, according to Dr. Abdussalam Ahmed, managing director of Media One Television.
“The wide acceptance for Media One channel, which was launched two years ago in Malayalam language, was the driving force for launching the Dubai-based Gulf channel,” he told here.
Dr. Riyadh K. Najm, president of the Saudi General Commission for Audiovisual Media, launched the logo of the new channel at a colorful ceremony held in Riyadh on Monday.
Speaking on the occasion, Najm offered full support to MediaOne, the only Indian channel that has obtained a license from the Ministry of Culture and Information in the Kingdom. While commending the dedication of the team behind MediaOne, he wished every success to the new channel — Media One Gulf.
Several prominent Saudi and Indian figures addressed the gathering. Several prominent Saudi and Indian figures addressed the gathering. They included Dr. Abdullah Al-Fardi, director general of Saudi Television 2, Khaled Al-Dawood, regional head of the Muslim World League, Dr. Saad Al-Duwaiaan, advisor at the Ministry of Education, Yousef Abdullah Assalaam, administration manager of Saudi Telecom, Sattam Bin Abdulaziz Al-Omairi, general manager of MediaOne Saudi Arabia, NORKA general consultant Shihab Kottukad, writer Joseph Athirunkal, Shabeer Baker, MediaOne Gulf marketing general manager, K.M. Basheer, MediaOne Saudi Coordinator, Saleem Khaled, MediaOne Saudi chapter secretary, C.K. Muhammad Najeeb, president of Thanima Cultural Forum Saudi chapter and Rijo Ismail, marketing manager of MediaOne Saudi Arabia.
In his speech, Abdussalam Ahmed said that the new channel would strive to bolster the bonds of cultural relations between India and the Gulf states.
Non-resident Indians from the southern Indian state of Kerala make up 60 per cent of the shareholder base at the group, which also publishes the influential daily Madhyamam.
“Unlike what the competition does, MediaOne Gulf is not about creating a second channel and using the same content that our viewers in India get to see but on a different time slot,” said Dr. Abdussalam Ahmad, Managing Director at MediaOne TV. “The new channel will have up to 40 per cent of the programming sourcing done from within this market.”
The flagship channel, MediaOne Gulf, which was launched in January 2013, will continue to be available for a Gulf viewership, but the content mix will be changed to include more of news and news-based programming. According to Ahmad, that would represent up to 40 per cent of the overall mix, “while for MediaOne Gulf, the intention is to build up into general entertainment channel with a committed following, much the same way this was done withMadhyamam.
“Also, the new channel’s focus will not be on broadcasting films — what we have seen is that buying satellite rights for new film releases are substantial and are not yielding the same returns as they used to. Instead, our focus will be on cinema-based programming, which continue to be popular with core audiences.”
The first channel entailed a capital expenditure of Rs600 million and is looking at breakeven over a five-year period, which is the industry norm. The cost included setting up a broadcasting centre in Kerala. For the second channel, the operating costs would be between Rs200 million to Rs250 million, the official said.
Meanwhile, the group is simultaneously tapping new shareholders from the UAE and the Gulf to come into the board of directors. The upper limit of the new shareholder funding has been capped at Rs50 million apiece.
The MediaOne channel, floated by the Madhyamam Broadcasting Limited, was launched by the then Indian Defense Minister A.K. Anthony in Calicut, Kerala on Feb. 10, 2013, Ahmed added. Gulf Madhyamam Daily, the No. 1 Malayalam daily in the Middle East, publishing from nine centers in the Gulf with four editions in Saudi Arabia, is another publication from the Madhyamam Group.
Source: Media Mirror.tv
New Technical parameters of this channel are given below
Satellite: Intelsat_17 at 66 degree east
LNB Frequency: 5150
TP Frequency: 3984
Symbol Rate: 14400
Polarization: Horizontal
Format: Mpeg-4 s2
8psk /
8psk /
Official web site : www.mediaonegulf.com/
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