Zee Café

Indian pay television channel for English speakers

Television channel

Zee Café

All eyes on new

Country| India
Broadcast area|

* India
* Bangladesh[1]
* Bhutan[2]
* Nepal
* Pakistan
* Sri Lanka[3]

Headquarters| Mumbai
Programming
Language(s)| English
Hindi
Picture format| 1080i HDTV
(downscaled to letterboxed 576i for the SDTV feed)
Ownership
Owner| Zee Entertainment Enterprises
Sister channels| See list of channels owned by ZEEL
History
Launched| 15 March 2000; 23 years ago (2000-03-15)
Former names| Zee English (2000-2005)
Links
Website| www.zeecafe.tv
Availability - Available on all major Indian DTH & Cables.
Terrestrial
DVB-T2 (India)| Check local frequencies
Streaming media
ZEE5| SD & HD
Jio TV| SD & HD

Zee Café is an Indian pay television channel owned by Zee Entertainment Enterprises. The channel mainly syndicates popular American and British television shows to appeal to the English-speaking population of India.

## History[edit]

Zee Café's logo used from 15 November 2010 to 19 June 2011 Zee Café's logo used from 19 June 2011 to 18 October 2016Zee Café's logo used from 16 October 2016 to 15 October 2017

Zee English was launched in the Indian subcontinent on 15 March 2000, as competition to Star World. Initially free-to-air, the channel was later encrypted as part of the Zee pay-television bouquet.[4] The launch came when Zee TV started opting for digital signals to provide better signal clarity. It launched alongside Zee Movies; ZEEL had signed agreements with MGM, Pearson, Fremantle, Carlton and Passport International.[5]

The channel underwent a rebranding on 28 March 2005 and was renamed as Zee Café, along with a new logo and promotion deals.[6]

The channel's high-definition feed was launched on 23 September 2015, for a bench test in limited markets and nationwide on 21 November 2015.[7]

## International distribution[edit]

Zee Café launched on Sky in the United Kingdom and Ireland on 15 July 2010. The channel originally served as the Zee's network hybrid channel, used to broadcast shows from a number of its existing channels in India.[8]

On 11 September 2012, it was repositioned as a classics channel, airing re-runs of old Zee TV programming, covering cookery, dramas, horror and mythology. At the same time the channel became free-to-air.[9]

On 10 June 2013, Zee Café UK was replaced by Zee Lamhe, another free-to-air classics channel from Zee.[10]

## Programming[edit]

Main article: List of programmes broadcast by Zee Café

## See also[edit]

* List of Indian television stations
* Zee Network

## References[edit]

1. ^ "Channels". Akash Digital TV. Retrieved 14 July 2022.
2. ^ "Changing Channels: The Bhutanese Middle Path Approach to Television". Digital Collections. Retrieved 12 July 2022.
3. ^ "PEO TV - Channels". PEO TV. Retrieved 14 July 2022.
4. ^ "Zee English and Movies launched".
5. ^ "Zee embraces Hollywood", Africa Film & TV Magazine, nº. 26, August-October 2000
6. ^ "Zee dons a New Look". 28 March 2005.
7. ^ "Zee Café to launch Zee Café-HD". 20 November 2015.
8. ^ "ZEE Cafe launches on Sky Digital EPG". BizAsia. 15 July 2010. Archived from the original on 17 August 2010.
9. ^ "ZEE Cafe set to reposition as classics channel". BizAsia. 6 September 2012.
10. ^ "Lamhe replaces ZEE Cafe in UK". BizAsia. 10 June 2013.

## External links[edit]

* Zee Cafe Official website
* Zee Network
* Zee5