The youth broadcast venture of UTV in association with Malaysia based media company Astro Measat, has been named BINDASS. The name was arrived at, after an in-depth quantitative Brand Name Test conducted by research agency Synovate India with youth aged 15-24 years. The youth centric channel scheduled for launch in mid 2007 has an outlay of Rs.200 crores (Rs.2 billion). The youth segment forms 23% of viewership in cable and satellite 1 LAC +homes & is currently underserved by existing broadcast offerings.

"Fun, Frank, Fearless and valuing Freedom in all its forms, BINDASS captures the essence of our brand's values", say’s Zarina Mehta, COO of the Youth Venture. "We have used all our Hungama learning’s in creating the new youth brand, including 3 months of intensive research. Just the name test is not enough; we also conducted a detailed qualitative study with Probe Qualitative Research (PQR), the qualitativedivision of IMRB International and are in the process of a large quantitative Useage and Attitudes Study with Synovate. We are very grateful to PQR’s Irene Suri, Research Director & Rohini Abraham, All India Country Head and to Synovate's Alok Shankar, All IndiaManaging Director and Priya Satarkar, Senior Project Director for the insights the research has given us. The research findings along with our own belief in what the Indian youth want, led us to arrive at BINDASS as the name for India's first Local Youth Entertainment Brand."

The Bindass brand is a 360 degree entertainment brand & includes the entire gamut of entertainment: television channels, a mobile channel, 3 websites, creation of original games, merchandising, retail & nation wide ground events providing Indian Youth with an array of choices. "The only media we are not entering are Radio & Print where we plan to work with strong partners", says Mehta.

The plans for the venture include the launch of multiple channels across languages in India and Southeast Asia. UTV had earlier entered into a business co-operation arrangement with Astro to set up kid's channels in Malaysia and Indonesia. Astro Ceria successfully launched on the Astro platform last year. Today in Malaysia 4 of the top 5 kids shows are on Astro Ceria.

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About UTV

Incorporated in 1990, UTV has today emerged as one of India's leading and most respected integrated Media & Entertainment companies. Listed on the Indian Stock Exchanges, it has grown from a Television Production house, into an integrated media company with a leadership position in Television Content, Motion Pictures, New Media that includes Animation and Broadcasting. UTV recently announced a joint venture with Malaysia based Astro Measat,fora youth-focused broadcasting venture. UTV hasa strong international presencewith offices across Asia, UK and USA.

More information on the group is available at www.utvnet.com