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STIFF
COMPETITION AMONGST PUNJABI
TV CHANNELS IN AMERICA Harjap
Singh Aujla Thirty years ago,
when I came to America, there was no Asian Indian television channel in
this country. There of course were some local Indian TV programmes in New
York. One was known as ITV,
one was Asian Variety Show, another was Vision of Asia and another was
“Namaste America”. Then during the early nineties Amitabh Bachchan’s
brother Ajitabh Bachchan floated “TV Asia”, which under a new
management is still flourishing coast to coast in America. Then came
“Zee TV” from India, owned by a media tycoon Subhash Chandra. At
present there are almost twenty Hindi TV channels being offered on Dish TV
(Dish Network) and DirecTV. During the first
decade of the new millennium, several other regional Indian language
channels were made available in America. Among those most of the channels
are in Gujarati, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Bengali and Punjabi. The first
Punjabi channel offered in America was “Alpha-etc-Punjabi”. This new
channel was a subsidiary of Zee Television. Most of its programming is
produced in Noida (U.P.)and Mohali (Punjab). It became very popular in
California and the Tri-State Area around New York City. Then a gritty local
entrepreneur Penny Yogiraj Sandhu decided to launch an indigenous America
made Punjabi TV channel. With her firm determination and resolve, she
arranged the financing, equipment and the staff for a new America based
television channel called “JUS Punjabi”. In resources “JUS
Punjabi” could not compete with “Alpha-etc-Punjabi”, but its local
programming became very popular with all the Punjabis living throughout
America. Dish Network bagged “JUS Punjabi” too. Seeing the success of
“Alpha-etc-Punjabi” and “JUS Punjabi”, two more channels jumped on
the bandwagon of Dish Network. These are “MH1” and Punjabi TV. These
channels are also moving along. Seeing the success of “JUS Punjabi”,
Penny was given the permission by Dish Network to start another channel
based on India centric spiritual programming. So she launched “JUS
One”, which is getting popular day by day. Another Punjab based channel
“G Punjab” has recently joined the Dish Network family. In all we now
have a lineup of six Punjabi television channels being offered on Dish
Network. In the meanwhile an
engineer turned business entrepreneur Sunil Hali, who is associated with a
number of media businesses, obtained the rights to telecast “PTC
Punjabi” channel in America and Canada. As I mentioned above, all other
Punjabi TV channels available in America are on DishTV, but Sunil Hali
chose to swim against the flow and he decided to go on DirecTV, which is
offered on a slightly larger dish. I had several discussions with Sunil
Hali, during which I found him determined to the hilt to make PTC Punjabi
a dazzling success. I can only wish good luck to him. Sunil firmly
believes that overall the programming dished out by PTC Punjabi is very
good and he reposes a lot of faith in his newly appointed programme
manager Sumandeep Kaur. Then I decided to
do some research on the educational and professional credentials of
Sumandeep Kaur. After doing some internet surfing, I can say that no
research is impossible during this age of information technology.
Sumandeep Kaur hails from a well to do business family of Chandigarh. In
her school and college days, she was a brilliant student, equally good in
academics, sports and cultural activities. She was always the leader of
her group of friends. Her command over Punjabi language has been
exemplary. She has been a brilliant debater and she is truly bilingual
here in America. While being a student of M.Com in the prestigious Panjab
University Chandigarh at the age of twenty one in 2005, of course with
full support of her parents, she appeared in the “Fresh Face of
Punjab” contest. This contest was sponsored by Limca, Zee TV and
Alpha-etc-Punjabi. Over one thousand contestants participated in the
competion. The events were held in Punjab’s largest cities of Amritsar,
Jalandhar, Ludhiana and Chandigarh. Sumandeep Kaur was happy to figure
amongst the final sixteen contestants. But her happiness knew no bounds,
when she was crowned the “Fresh Face of Punjab”. Something like
“Miss Punjab”. Not only her parents, but entire Chandigarh were proud
of this young local prodigy. In an interview given to “The Tribune”,
Sumandeep Kaur expressed her aim to became a model and a media celebrity.
She was self assured that her brain and charm can take her very far. This
remembers me an old English adage “The face is the index of one’s
fortune”. But if the grace of face gets the support from the versatility
of the brain, then a lot can be achieved. Sumandeep Kaur is very confident
and her employer Sunil Hali believes in her capabilities. As I am told
very soon Sunil will undertake recordings of some
“PTC Punjabi” items in his New York studios. Sumandeep Kaur will be
the brain behind the local originations. She may do some of the programmes
herself and she will direct the others. Let us keep our fingers crossed. Sumandeep Kaur’s
confidence is not unreal. She has the experience of television since her
days in India. She has worked for quite some time with
“Alpha-etc-Punjabi”, a subsidiary of Zee Network in India. After
getting married to a brilliant information technocrat Harvir Singh,
Sumandeep Kaur moved to America. For almost a year she worked in “JUS
Punjabi” as the host of two programmes. In her brief stint with “JUS
Punjabi” she created a lot of fan following. On internet, some of the
viewers have commented very generously about her. Now she has a new
responsibility. Her task is uphill, but she is determined to swim against
the flow and succeed. At this time a pack
of six Punjabi channels, namely “Alpha-etc-Punjabi”, “JUS
Punjabi”, “MH1”, “Punjabi TV”, “ JUS One” and “G Punjab”
(also called Sada Channel) is available in Dish Network. The price of the
entire Punjabi package is under twenty dollars per month. “PTC
Punjabi” is plowing the lone furrow on the larger DirecTV dish. This
channel costs almost fifteen dollars per month. Sumandeep Kaur is brimming
with confidence, so is Sunil Hali. This is a unique situation, where one
channel is pitted against half a dozen channels. But you never know, lame
duck may smile on Sumandeep Kaur again, just like it did during the
“Fresh Face of Punjab Contest” in 2005. At that time she topped
amongst one thousand contestants, let us see if she can repeat that feat
all over again in her professional career. |