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Mumbai, June 30: Suddenly, children will have too much to see.

There is a bouquet of television channels for them in the pipeline.

Disney will launch three channels next year; STAR India will launch Hungama TV with UTV shortly, Zee is priming one up for its DTH platform and Pentamedia Graphics, which beams Splash in the southern states, is looking for a bigger presence in northern and western markets.

Disney, which has been eyeing the Indian market for long, showed it is ready to take the plunge by appointing the head of its India operations this week. Of its three channels, one will be for kids up to the age of 4, the other for 4-14 and the third for general entertainment.

Disney is also looking at other opportunities, says Irene Chan, regional director, corporate communications, Asia Pacific, Walt Disney Company. “We are taking a comprehensive approach to a variety of Disney business initiatives in India, including opportunities for new media initiatives like wireless, Disney Mobile, television, consumer products, publishing and live entertainment,” she says.

“The Indian marketplace is developing quickly and represents strong growth opportunities for all of our businesses. Indian consumers have a strong affinity for the Disney brand,” she adds.

But for the time being, it is Indian pester power that will keep Disney busy, something that is behind the spurt of the other channels, too.

All the new channels are unabashed tributes to the advertisers’ faith in the child’s purchasing power and the channels are accordingly determined to treat their audience as young adults, not mere children. So Hungama TV will target children in the 4-14 age group who will be treated to “multi-genre” entertainment (read STAR Plus for kids). Splash will target an audience of 2-16-year-olds with programmes of “edutainment, infotainment and entertainment”. Disney will also have a general entertainment channel.

“India has 315 million under-15 kids, who represent one-third of its population. Even counting only 40 million cable and satellite households, there are 50 million kids,” says Purnendu Bose, chief operating officer, Hungama TV.

“Out of every 10 advertisements, seven are targeted at kids,” says Bose. “The advertising market for children is worth Rs 572 crore. We have received a fabulous response from 65 advertisers.”

“There is nothing so sudden about so many children’s channels,” says Ashish Kaul, vice-president, corporate brand development, Essel Group. He says Zee is talking to potential partners about its children’s channel. “But there was always a need for children’s channels. Better distribution networks and the recognition by advertisers of the child consumer more than have been a boost. Almost every adult product involves the child now; either he or she is there in the ad or watching or deciding on it, including ads for cars,” he says.

There is something adult about the way the young audience is being broken up into the categories, corresponding to the way consumer segments are identified. Cartoon Network, the market leader by far, which has two children’s channels, Cartoon Network and Pogo, differentiates between its very young audiences and the more grown-ups. Splash targets toddlers, tweens and teens and Hungama divides its viewers between 4 to 7 and 7-upwards.