Zee Gujarati shut down, off air

Zee Gujarati shut down, off air
By our correspondent
Ahmedabad, DeshGujarat, 2 June, 2009



Gujarati entertainment channel Zee Gujarati finally went off air today following a decision taken by the Zee Television Group to shut it down. A scroll on Zee News channel today announced ‘Zee Gujarati would not be available from today.’

Tata Sky subscribers saw a notice on channel no. 873, occupied by Zee Gujarati, that the channel had suspended it’s telecast without prior notice and therefore unavailable.

Zee Gujarati had stopped it’s regional news and entertainment operations in Gujarat in February this year. Most of the staff was relieved or transferred. However the channel was still visible and on air, playing repeat programs. But today, finally the channel went completely off air.

Earlier this year one website had quoted Barun Das, CEO, Zee News Ltd, “We are shutting down Zee Gujarati as it was making losses. The revenue from that market is also too small as the local viewers have a very high consumption of Hindi entertainment.”

Zee Gujarati was launched in March 2000. The channel, earlier named as ‘Alpha TV Gujarati’ had started it’s operation from Mumbai, but later offices and operations were shifted to Ahmedabad.