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 is a product of Dev Samaj College Chandigarh. 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 reminds me of 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. Confidence is not bad, but it must go through the rigours of actual testing by the viewers. As I am told very soon Sunil will undertake recordings of  some “PTC Punjabi” items in his New York studios, or through some other arrangement. Sumandeep Kaur, I am told, will be the brain behind the local originations. She may do some of the programmes herself and she may direct the others. Let us keep our fingers crossed. It took “JUS Punjabi” a lot of time to establish its confidence with the viewers, but now a lot of cable companies are taking pride in carrying its programming.

 Sumandeep Kaur’s confidence does not appear to be totally unreal. In a short span of time, she has gained experience of television with two channels, one in India and the other in America. 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 made a move to America. For almost a year she worked in “JUS Punjabi” as the hostess 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 big 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, so far untried, channel is pitted with heavy odds against of half a dozen other 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 a highly competitive line-up of one thousand contestants, let us see if she can repeat that feat all over again in her professional career.

 Building castles in the air does no good to anybody. PTC is losing time. It they want to succeed, they must present themselves in front of the audiences, who are the real judges of success and failure. If they keep postponing their local, live and canned originations, they will keep losing money and crucial business.

harjapaujla@gmail.com