Sony Pictures Entertainment Company has launched a 24-hour animation channel Animax in India.
Being positioned as a youth-focused channel, it went on air from Monday and already some 8 million homes have been covered, Betty Tsui, vice president, Animax Asia, told reporters in Bangalore.
The target is to cover 16 million homes by March end, said Rohit Gupta, executive vice president, SET.
Officials said Animax's core audience is those aged between 15 and 24 with a secondary target audience of kids aged seven to 14, and adults of 25 to 39 years.
"We are positioning it as a mass channel", Gupta said.
Animax currently beams 12-hour programming in Hindi everyday, but from April next year there would be separate 24-hour feed both in Hindi and English.
Tsui said Animax content is predominantly being sourced from Japan. Animax is currently in the process of developing original characters Quu and Tee, she added.
The channel has appointed cricketer Irfan Pathan as its brand ambassador.
