MUMBAI: India based International music channel 9XO is celebrating its third anniversary with a lot of music and a whole new property, says channel head Luke Kenny. Without revealing much, he hinted that it will be almost a month-long celebration.
Apart from its anniversary plan, the music channel is looking forward to developing content based around Maroon 5’s Asia tour. Kenny said, “We will reach out to Maroon 5 audiences via our special programming designed around the band and its tour in Asia.” The channel had programmed its content around Ed Sheeran during his 1 March India gig.
9XO has also been associated with IPs conceptualised by Twisted Entertainment and Percept Entertainment. Kenny said that the channel hopes to continue the partnership, and will also look to partner with as many International acts as possible. Commenting on his plan for the channel, he said that they plan to strengthen their hold in the broadcasting space and increase digital presence.
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Even as the channel completed three years of its existence, it is still facing technical obstacles in the broadcasting space. 9XO is currently present on most DTH platforms, except for Tata Sky DTH, which has been pending for a while now. This, in a way, has affected the channel’s growth in terms of advertising revenue. But that has not affected the channel’s spirit to go ahead and strengthen its hold digitally. Kenny said, “We have expanded our reach digitally and we look forward to grow the digital reach through various levels of engagement.” The channel is developing an app that will engage its audiences across TV, web and mobile handsets.
Talking about the selection of artistes and the playlist that goes on-air, Kenny said, “9XO has a great team that has been constantly scouting for talents who are less know but have great music. We try our best to feature the artists/bands in our channel.” He also added that they would continue doing this along with featuring know and legendary musicians on the channel. “There is a lot of music available on digital platforms, which us why music is lost in the clutter. We were the first Indian channel that put forth music by Go Go Berlin in India and then everyone followed.”
Kenny, who is also a musician, hinted that he is working on a music project that will be released soon.
