"Bajirao Mastani" and "Airlift" are some of the Bollywood blockbusters that people can soon watch on television, courtesy Viacom18, which has announced the launch of its exclusive Hindi movie channel Rishtey Cineplex next quarter.
The announcement follows the approval Viacom18 got recently from the Union Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, reports televisionpost.com.
Viacom18 is a joint venture between US-based Viacom Inc and the Network 18 Group controlled by Mukesh Ambani.
Rishtey Cineplex will also have access to yet-to-be-released Hindi films such as "Force 2", "Kapoor and Sons" and "Ae Dil Hai Mushkil", the website said, adding the channel would also leverage the network's vast movie collection, besides acquiring new ones and premiering big-banner movies.
"Bajirao" Mastani", starring Ranveer Singh, Deepika Padukone and Priyanka Chopra, and "Airlift", featuring Akshay Kumar and Nimrat Kaur, did well at the box office.
The foray marks further consolidation by the media company in the general entertainment channel (GEC) space.
"With the launch of Rishtey Cineplex, we are entering the large Hindi-movie genre, thereby filling a pivotal whitespace and offering a holistic Hindi entertainment ecosystem from our stable," said Viacom18 Group CEO Sudhanshu Vats.
"Rishtey Cineplex will also enable us to offer 360-degree value to our advertisers creating more opportunities for on-air promotions enabling optimisation of ad inventory across the network," he added.
Viacom18 had launched Colors Infinity, an English general entertainment channel, last July.
As for the Hindi movie channel segment, it is dominated by the Zee Group, Sony Pictures and Star India.
Colors TV, which airs "Naagin", was ranked third among the top 10 channels in the Hindi GEC category for the week Feb. 6 to 12 by television audience measurement agency BARC India.
