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

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

International distribution

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

Programming

Current programming

Anime

Drama

Reality

Science Fiction

Sitcom

Sports

Superheroes

Former programming

Comedy-Drama

Drama

Reality/other

Science Fiction

Sitcoms

Documentary