Dilshad Jal Master, Senior VP & Head, Content & Communications, The History Channel

Buried in a heap of dates and events, history as a subject rarely evokes the imagination of the young. For most, the subject is a mere agglomeration of events captured in a chronological order. But those who watch The History Channel will tell you that the subject could indeed come alive with all the drama, information and analysis. The History Channel brings to life many a historical persona and event the world had long forgotten. Even so, the channel maintains its contemporary look.

Brought to India in late 2003 by a division of A&E Television Networks in partnership with NGC Network (India) Pvt Ltd, the channel, which is part of the STAR bouquet, is continually enhancing its presence in the mindspace of urban India. Dilshad Jal Master, Senior Vice President and Head of Content & Communications, The History Channel, says the channel is set to triple its reach within three months when the audio feed would be made available in Hindi.

Dilshad has over fourteen years of media experience. Earlier, as Senior Vice President, International Sales, News Television (India) Limited, she was responsible for the distribution of STAR Plus programming to the Indian diaspora outside Asia. Dilshad graduated with a Master of Arts in Telecommunications from Michigan State University as a Phi Kappa Phi Scholar. She talks about The History Channel’s unique identity, its potentials and relevance in the Indian context in conversation with Rajiv Raghunath & Neha Pant of exchange4media.com. Excerpts:

Q. Much as one would like to believe that the future of television belongs to niche channels, the spotlight is pretty much on news and entertainment channels. Hence, it might have been an uphill task to position a channel like yours.

Not at all. History is one of the easiest subjects to market. There is history all around us. Importantly, people who have seen the programmes on The History Channel have just one word to describe them—fabulous. The channel was launched on November 30 last year with a reach spanning 15 million C&S households across the country. The number has gone beyond 20 million C&S households now.

The content has a simple format. I would call The History Channel a non-film movie channel.

Q. But you do show some Indian content.

We stick to short form budgetting. For instance, when we decided to air ‘Hollywood Heroes’, we got Ashok Amritraj to host the programmes. Anyway, with 2,000 hours of international programming in the reserve we are not looking to increase the local content.

For now, we would test the waters, and use the international programming to the hilt.

Q. Curently, your reach is essentially urban. It is urban at this point in time. But the reach will triple within three months when the audio feed is made available in Hindi. Our programmes are very easy to dub.

Q. Have you reached out to the kids segment to promote the channel?

We are planning a tactical school programme sometime in June-July. We would try to show programmes that go along with what the children learn at school.

Q. So long as the subjects are far removed from India there may not be any adverse reactions here. But the reaction may not be the same if you were to air a feature on Mohammed Ali Jinnah. Would you agree? Well, I haven’t see the feature yet. Anyway, we will not sell integrity. And, we take up subjects that have a universal appeal.

Q. How do you judge the success of The History Channel in India?

I have yet to meet anyone who hasn’t called the programmes on the channel as fabulous. Quite recently, we had a celebrity jury for an event comprising cricketer Javagal Srinath, columnist Anil Dharker and scientist K Kasturirangan. Though belonging to different age-groups and different backgrounds, they all called The History Channel as fabulous. The channel touches everybody.

Q. Are you planning to enhance the local content?

The History Channel is a world channel. At this stage, the focus in India is on distribution. We will bring in new elements in due course. We have begun this with a programme that looks at historical events like the Partition and India winning the cricket World Cup through the eyes of people who had seen them happen.

Q. Would you say the channel is commercialy viable?

Why not? DTH will make that happen. After all, Day One itself gave us a reach spanning 15 million households.

I must add that The History Channel will break all categories such as news, movies and so on. There is the element of news in programmes like ‘Modern Marvels’ that provide details on the various devices that James Bond uses in his movies. A programme like ‘Mission Critical’ has, for instance, a feature on the espionage that preceded the US attack on Iraq.

Q. Is the focus of content essentially on people?

Definitely. History is all about people. In 1987, the channel began a series called ‘Biography’ which down the years has profiled more than a thousand famous personalities. There is so much that we can learn from inspirational leaders such as the Dalai Lama, Nelson Mandela and Beethoven. Even Bill Clinton has been featured in the series. After all, he has also made history. Take the documentary on Adolf Hitler. It portrays him not as a villain alone but as one of the greatest army commanders the world has seen.

Everybody likes to watch such programmes. Everybody wants their kids to watch these programmes.

Q. Have you faced any criticism on the interpretation of history?

Not yet. Not even when we aired the feature on Saddam Hussein on the day he was captured by the US forces. The feature had concluded with the US attack on Iraq.

Q. But history can get to be very controversial. After all, the subject has strong political and cultural undertones.

True. A person like Yasser Arafat is perceived as a leader by one set of people, and a terrorist by some others. But I found that The History Channel’s feature on Arafat conveys a balanced view. So, is the case with the feature on Saddam Hussein.

Q. Any prospects for local documentary makers?

We are very choosy. The research has to be very good. Besides, there is a long gestation period before any programme is cleared to be aired. The elements of every documentary are verified at three different sources. So, a one-hour programme would take 6-8 months to get the approval. We are very particular about the due diligence.

Q. Any plans to dub them in the regional languages? Not at the moment. We will watch how Hindi does.

Q. Do you see good advertising interest in your channel? Yes. I am satisfied with the interest. It would increase manifold once the rural audio feed gets underway.