Media firm Zee Entertainment Enterprises (ZEEL) is expanding its brand '&' to English movie channel, with the launch of its premium offering '& Prive HD'.

"As a network we want to be serving all the consumer segments that are out there and it is in that context that this particular channel is being designed.

We believe that there is a significant consumer segment out there which needs the kind of content which we are curating," ZEEL Chief Executive Officer Punit Misra told PTI here.

The channel goes on air on September 24 and will be competing with MN+, Star Movies Select, Sony Le Plex in the premium HD English movie category.

The ad revenue for the overall English movie genre is estimated to be Rs 600 crore and the new channel will be vying for a slice in the same.

"It is a space which has seen some activity in the past, we have seen and we have been reading the way the market has been moving and we believe it is the right time for us (to enter the segment)," he said.

Misra added that premium segment has witnessed 65 -70 per cent growth in  last 18 months and expects the momentum to continue for sometime.
HD households have grown in the country from 5 million in 2015 to 12.8 million at present, he added.

The channel aims to cater to the metro audience aged between 22 to 50, who are non-conformist and discerning.

"With every channel launching the viewership is going up. We have curated 350 movies with 40 premieres to specifically fill the need gap that we found.

The curation has been the longest part and we have been doing it for over 9.5 months," ZEEL Business Cluster Head Premium and FTA GEC Channels Aparna Bhosle said. Pratyusha Agarwal, Chief Marketing Officer, ZEEL said "focus has also gone into packaging the channel and we have taken inspiration from international luxury magazine styles and semiotics".