$250 MILLION CONTENT DEVELOPMENT FUND CREATED FOR WELLNESS NETWORK: VERIA LIVING
Earmarked for Development, Production, Co-Production and Acquisition of High Quality, Multimedia Health and Wellness Programming as Network Prepares for January 2012 Re-Branding
ZEE Group Chairman Subhash Chandra Makes Strategic Announcement during New York Visit
Mumbai, NOVEMBER 18, 2011 — Subhash Chandra, Chairman of ZEE Group, today announced the creation of a $250 million (U.S.) content development, production, co-production and acquisition fund that will benefit Veria Living (www.veria.com), a network devoted to showcasing wellness programming and related content across multiple media platforms.
The New York-headquartered Veria Living television network is available throughout the U.S. to DISH Network, Verizon FiOS and Frontier Communications subscribers. Veria Living offers the world’s largest line-up of first-run, original programming – connecting viewers in a contemporary and accessible manner to the benefits and joys of living a healthy lifestyle.
Veria.com complements the network by extending the Veria Living philosophy through online recipes and nutrition, holistic health tips, body-mind conditioning and all-natural products. Embracing its mission, Veria Living passionately advocates for quality and vitality of life.
Noted Mr. Chandra, the establishment of the $250 million fund is yet another step in ZEE Groups’ strategic five-year plan to further expand Veria Living’s presence in the U.S. and beyond as the go-to-source for all things health and wellness. Said Mr. Chandra, “We are firmly committed to growing the Veria brand across television, Internet, mobile and OTT platforms. By focusing on original content development and production we’re not only looking to build a broad U.S. audience for Veria Living, but also setting the table for the expansion of the brand globally over the next couple of years.”
The news comes on the heels of Veria’s recent announcement regarding its new primetime programming line-up, launch of its new comprehensive website (www.Veria.com) and rebranding as Veria Living scheduled for a January 2012 premiere. The new primetime line-up will include programming featuring such well-known celebrity talent as international recording artist Jewel (hosting the new season of The Incurables) and NFL Hall of Fame inductee Deion Sanders (hosting new series Sports Dads), a new reality series to be hosted by yogic master, international author and former high-fashion supermodel, Yogi Cameron who applies Ayurvedic practices and yogic principles to individuals with a variety of health issues, to name a few. The network also recently unveiled a new lifecycle logo combining Eastern influence with Western design (sunshine yellow and tangerine orange) and its new tagline — “Go Well”.
Veria Living, as well as its Zee TV suite of Indian language channels, are managed in the U.S. by Asia TV USA Ltd. and overseen by its CEO Suresh Bala Iyer. Remarked Mr. Iyer, “We not only want to appeal to our core 35-44 Adult and 25-54 Women demos, but to all Americans who are looking to lead healthier lives. Veria Living helps them to achieve this by passionately advocating for quality and vitality of life by following proven wellness and nutritional activities. This fund will go a long way towards helping us to achieve our goals while creating the most entertaining content possible that fits our mission.”
Mr. Chandra, who founded Veria as way to promote wellness to the West, was in New York to receive the 2011 International Emmy® Directorate Award. Wellness is a topic of personal interest to the health conscious Mr. Chandra is a regular Vipassana practitioner who also works out for 50-minutes each morning. While in New York, Mr. Chandra also addressed the burgeoning opportunity in the U.S. for South Asian media content. He noted, “We have experienced strong consumer support for Zee TV in the States. In the New York metro area alone, viewers watch the channel for nearly one hour daily, Monday-Friday in the primetime period (per Nielsen).”
About Asia TV USA Ltd.
Asia TV USA Ltd. is a premier distributor of a wide variety of television, entertainment and media content in the United States across DTH, telco, satellite, broadband and cable platforms and offers viewers more than 300,000 hours of original, entertaining content. The company has become the leading provider of South Asian entertainment channels with television and film programming in a wide range of genres, including soap operas, costume/period dramas, reality shows, Bollywood movies, musicals, suspense, comedies, culinary, children’s entertainment and lifestyle. The Asia TV USA Ltd. portfolio includes nine leading South Asian entertainment channels. The ZEE brand is the undisputed leader in the South Asian entertainment space in the U.S. with the largest number of channels by any South Asian broadcaster and the first to be Nielsen rated. These include Zee TV, Zee Cinema, Ten Cricket, Alpha ETC Punjabi, Zee Business, Zing, Zee Kanada, Zee Marathi and Zee Smile.
During the June 2010 Sweeps period, Zee TV had more primetime viewers among all 18-34 Adults in the New York DMA than many of the leading American cable networks including: Lifetime, Oxygen, Style, BBC America, CNBC, CNN, HGTV, Univision, Travel Channel, WE tv and VH-1.
About Veria Living
Veria Living (www.veria.com) is a company devoted to showcasing wellness programming and related content across multiple media platforms in the United States and beyond. Spearheaded by its forward-thinking Veria Living and Veria.com distribution platforms, the privately held company, headquartered in New York, offers the world’s largest line-up of first-run, original programming – connecting viewers in a contemporary and accessible manner to the benefits and joys of living a healthy lifestyle. In the U.S., the Veria Living network is primarily available on DISH Network (Channel 218), Verizon FiOS (Channel 162) and Frontier Communications (Channel 162). Veria.com complements the network by extending the Veria Living philosophy through online recipes and nutrition, holistic health tips, body-mind conditioning and all-natural products. Embracing its mission, Veria Living passionately advocates for quality and vitality of life.
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Media Contacts:
Jayshree Kumar – Mumbai / Abhishek Agrawal – Delhi
Corporate Brand Development, ZEE
Mobile: 097692 86661 / 098114 38591
Email: jayshreek@zeenetwork.com / abhishek.agrawal@zeenetwork.com
Don Ciaramella / Matt Biscuiti
The Lippin Group
212-986-7080
don@lippingroup.com / matt@lippingroup.com