SINGAPORE: Three of Mediacorp’s Tamil drama series will be featured on Indian streaming giant ZEE5, under the company’s largest and highest-profile Indian distribution deal to date.
As part of the collaboration, a total of 160 hours of Mediacorp’s Tamil titles has been sold to ZEE5, India’s largest content producer, said Mediacorp in a news release on Monday (May 18).
Three drama series are now available for free to India-based users of the platform.
These titles, which originally aired on Vasantham and meWATCH, include seasons one, two and four of long-form suspense series Vettai, which features A-list actors Vignesh Wadarajan and Gunalan Morgan.
The other two titles are the 54-episode Uyire, which explores an enigmatic ex-military officer’s explosive past, and the 49-episode Arivaan, based on a barber with paranormal powers and his pursuit of a mysterious mass murderer.
Arivaan is about a barber with paranormal powers and his pursuit of a mysterious mass murderer.
Uyire is a series which explores an enigmatic ex-military officer’s explosive past.
The deal is “the first foray of its kind with the Mumbai-based streaming service operated by Essel Group via its subsidiary Zee Entertainment Enterprises Limited”, Mediacorp said.
“We are excited to embark on this endeavour with ZEE5 in proffering our premium Tamil content to consumers in India,” said Mediacorp Vice President of Content Distribution Jesslyn Wong.
“We hope this is the beginning of a commercially fulfilling relationship between our two companies that will ultimately strengthen our mutual standing in a competitive and ever-evolving mediascape.”
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ZEE5 added this move was a way to ensure consumers had fresh content to watch during the COVID-19 lockdown in India.
“As India’s entertainment super-app, we are cognisant of the current situation and have undertaken planned measures to urge consumers to stay indoors by serving them with their daily dose of entertainment across languages,” said Aparna Acharekar, programming head of ZEE5 India.
“Our partnership with Mediacorp is one such strategic step towards delivering a series of bespoke Tamil original content for viewers who were devoid of access to fresh content during the ongoing lockdown in India.”
