Turner Pulls Plug on India’s Imagine

MUMBAI: Turner Broadcasting System Asia Pacific is shuttering its Hindi-language general-entertainment network Imagine TV, acquired from NDTV in 2009, as a result of poor ratings.

"Imagine TV has not performed and grown as per expectations," said Siddharth Jain, the managing director for South Asia at Turner International India, in a statement. "While some programs delivered satisfactory ratings, overall the channel was unable to achieve the ratings consistency needed to sustain the business and support continued investment. As a result, Turner made the carefully considered decision to cease operations of the channel."

"We are grateful to the Imagine team, which includes some of the most talented and creative people in the Indian media industry. We will use our best endeavors to make this as smooth a transition as possible for them."

In the competitive Hindi-language entertainment market, Imagine has struggled against the more established players—Sony, Zee and Star Plus—as well as against the upstart Colors, a joint venture of Network18 and Viacom. It is not clear when exactly the channel will go off the air. The international feed, Imagine Dil Se, shuts down today, according to reports.

Turner still owns several assets in the Indian market, notably the kids’ networks Cartoon Network and Pogo.