Mumbai: Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd is planning to launch a channel targeted at the young audience as it expands.

ZeeNext, a general entertainment channel, will focus on a younger audience "without alienating the higher age group", Zee said in a statement.

Zee Next will be the second general entertainment channel after Zee TV. According to the company source, the channel will contain stuffs with romance, fun, gossip, thrill, action, music and all lure younger audience.

It is expected to be like STAR One, which was started by the Star network irrespective of the success of the main GEC Star Plus for the same purpose.

NDTV, Sahara, Sony and INX Media are also expected to lunch their general entertainment channels targeting specific audience despite having particular channels based on cinema, music, sports, news and business.

While the small screen has long been dominated by entertainment channels targeted at women, with a mix of soaps, Hindi films and reality and game shows, broadcasters are going beyond cartoons and movies dubbed in regional languages to hook young adults.

With half of India''s billion-plus population below the age of 25 years, top broadcaster Star News Corp.''s Star India has already started a Hindi-language channel for young adults, while Time Warner''s Cartoon Network dominates the kids'' entertainment space.

India has 71 million cable TV homes, the world''s third-largest base, and is forecast to become the top pay TV market in Asia-Pacific by 2015.

Zee''s news channel Zee News Limited has posted a standalone net profit of Rs6.39 crore for the quarter ended 30 June 2007.

Revenue stood at Rs74.5 crore, up 70 per cent over the corresponding quarter last fiscal.

Operating profit was at Rs11.91 crore against the corresponding previous quarter''s loss of Rs7.53 crore.

Consolidated operating revenues for the first quarter was at Rs75.87 crore while operating profit stood at Rs10.99 crore.

During this period, advertisement revenue was Rs59.24 crore, up 95.52 per cent compared to Q1 FY07. Subscription revenue stood at Rs13.65 crore, up 10.78 per cent.