ITV

Tag: comedy

  • Big Magic to launch new seasons of ‘Mahisagar’ & ‘Akbar Birbal’ on 22 February

    Big Magic to launch new seasons of ‘Mahisagar’ & ‘Akbar Birbal’ on 22 February

    MUMBAI: Big Magic will be strengthening its bouquet of shows with the launch of a new season of Mahisagar titled Naya Mahisagar. Starting from 22 February, the show will be aired at 7 pm.

    Additionally, as was previously reported by Indiantelevision.com, the channel is also brining the new season of its popular showAkbar Birbal titled Naya Akbar Birbal, which will also go on air on 22 February in the 7:30 pm time band. 

    Set in the backdrop of Gujarat, Naya Mahisagar produced by Hats Off Productions, is the show with an amalgamation of fun, fantasy and humour. On the other hand, produced by Nikhil Sinha’s Triangle Company Naya Akbar Birbal is inspired by the childhood folk tales of Akbar and Birbal and will see a lot of drama, suspense and thrill with signature spurts of comedy.  

    On the launch of new season, Big Magic creative director Bimal Unnikrishnan said, “Mahisagar was a great family entertainer and we wanted our viewers to enjoy a brand new season of this much loved show. With Naya Mahisagar, our idea is to bring forth a hilarious show with a combination of fun, fantasy and humour, appealing to our target audience. We are confident that the new season will be embraced by viewers with the same love and affection.”

    “Akbar Birbal is one of the popular show of Big Magic. The first season did extremely well and on audience demand we are all geared up for one of our biggest launches of 2016,” he added.

    Both the shows will see a robust multi-media promotional plan across key markets, which will include a 360 degree marketing campaign. The radio network will engage with viewers and trade partners locally and nationally through multiple platforms.

  • Big Magic to launch new seasons of ‘Mahisagar’ & ‘Akbar Birbal’ on 22 February

    Big Magic to launch new seasons of ‘Mahisagar’ & ‘Akbar Birbal’ on 22 February

    MUMBAI: Big Magic will be strengthening its bouquet of shows with the launch of a new season of Mahisagar titled Naya Mahisagar. Starting from 22 February, the show will be aired at 7 pm.

    Additionally, as was previously reported by Indiantelevision.com, the channel is also brining the new season of its popular showAkbar Birbal titled Naya Akbar Birbal, which will also go on air on 22 February in the 7:30 pm time band. 

    Set in the backdrop of Gujarat, Naya Mahisagar produced by Hats Off Productions, is the show with an amalgamation of fun, fantasy and humour. On the other hand, produced by Nikhil Sinha’s Triangle Company Naya Akbar Birbal is inspired by the childhood folk tales of Akbar and Birbal and will see a lot of drama, suspense and thrill with signature spurts of comedy.  

    On the launch of new season, Big Magic creative director Bimal Unnikrishnan said, “Mahisagar was a great family entertainer and we wanted our viewers to enjoy a brand new season of this much loved show. With Naya Mahisagar, our idea is to bring forth a hilarious show with a combination of fun, fantasy and humour, appealing to our target audience. We are confident that the new season will be embraced by viewers with the same love and affection.”

    “Akbar Birbal is one of the popular show of Big Magic. The first season did extremely well and on audience demand we are all geared up for one of our biggest launches of 2016,” he added.

    Both the shows will see a robust multi-media promotional plan across key markets, which will include a 360 degree marketing campaign. The radio network will engage with viewers and trade partners locally and nationally through multiple platforms.

  • Star World Premiere HD to air ‘Baskets’

    Star World Premiere HD to air ‘Baskets’

    MUMBAI: Star World Premiere HD, home to day and date viewing, is known to bring some of the best and latest English television series to its discerned audience. Taking its offering a notch higher, the HD only channel is all set to premiere the highly anticipated television series Baskets that follows master clown Chip Baskets as he descends from prestigious French clowning academy to dusty bull-dodging shenanigans as a rodeo clown. The series will premiere on 24 January 2016 at 9:30 pm.

     

     Baskets is the first television collaboration of comedy dream-team Zach Galifianiakis and Louis CK.  The six-time Emmy-winner comedian and writer Louis CK is known for his critically acclaimed TV show Louie and use of observational, self-deprecating and satirical humour for his stand-up acts. The series also marks Zach’s foray into television with his first character portrayal on the small screen. The show takes a dig at the world constrained by corporate interests and the homogenization of society where one man in Bakersfield, California dares to follow his dream of becoming a professional clown.  But after an unsuccessful enrolment at a prestigious clowning school in Paris, the only job he can find is with the local rodeo.

     

    The ground-breaking actor who gained immense popularity with his movies – The Hangover series, Due Date alongside Robert Downing Junior and Emmy award-winning comedy talk show Between Two Ferns is considered the master of mining awkwardness for comedy gold. Safe to say, Zach is synonymous to all things funny. His portrayal as Chip Baskets on the show has been the highlight among fans of the comedy genre. 

  • Few Brave Men: AIB’s journey so far on Hotstar

    Few Brave Men: AIB’s journey so far on Hotstar

    MUMBAI: Peter Ustinov once said, ‘Comedy is simply a funny way of being serious’. Ustinov’s take on comedy has not been entertained much in India until now.  That is, until All India Bakchod (AIB), and how well they are known for doing the things which are not supposed to be done. And one of things that are not to be done is the new show ‘On Air with AIB’, with tagline of 'Tragedy mein Comedy’, a satire on social and political issues with information and humor.

    On Air with AIB consists of 20 episodes, 10 each in English and Hindi. So far, 4 episodes have been streamed on Hotstar and telecast on Star Plus and Star World for Hindi and English viewers respectively.  

    On Air with AIB has addressed issues such as the Bihar elections, Police brutality, outdated government laws, Fire safety, Corruption, and Mysterious deaths of whistleblowers. The episodes are approximately 23 minutes long. The fourth English episode of On Air with AIB addressed the social media silliness that followed the Paris terror attacks and about the public spaces which are being acquired by rich.

    But then news comedy has been attempted before when Shekhar Suman did it way back in 1997 with the evocatively named Movers and Shakers. It did work that at time and with On Air with AIB, the expectations are high, people expect them to be humorous, sarcastic and gibe to a new level, because of their earlier shows and videos on the digital platform.

    For the starters On Air with AIB was promoted via a hilarious series of hoardings designed to resemble political posters.

    On Air with AIB’s format has been compared to American shows like Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, Late Night with Seth Meyers which focus on political, social issues. AIB's founding member Tanmay Bhat explains, “The format has been there from long time. We had shows’ in India, but they have been very light, On Air with AIB is a factual news show. There have been many comment based shows, but they’re nothing like what we are doing. There have been other comedy shows which addressed social and political issues like Satyamev Jayate which had serious approach toward the issues discussed. “

    He further adds, “We want to raise the issues , issues which are not being covered but are relevant for people across demographic and geographical differences,  that cater to both urban and rural audiences." 

    Bhat says that On Air with AIB has been a good experience, its format was new for his team, but it has been very challenging and great fun. Though AIB were the pioneers of humor and roast comedy in India, factual comedy has not been easy for them.

    Tanmay adds, “It has been completely different from what we used to do. We are not used to news comedy. This is the first time we are doing a show which is a heavily researched content based show. It has been a difficult process to perform, but at the same time it has been an enriching experience. We have a 15 member research team, we have to go through PDFs, research documents and government sites.”

    “Our teams have face challenges like how do we deliver the issue to the audience? How can it be simplified? How do we present it to 20 year olds and make them smarter and informed?”

    On Air with AIB is produced in two languages – English and Hindi. For the English feed, Rohan Joshi and Ashish Shakya take the charge whereas the Hindi feed is executed by Tanmay Bhat and Gursimran Khamba. It is the first time the team has been divided into two parts. Tanmay explains, “The division is because of the format and language feed of the show. I and Khamba are more comfortable speaking in Hindi. But we could swap if we felt the need."

     AIB has 11.7 lakh followers on Twitter. Its Facebook page has close to 17 lakh likes. On YouTube, the group has more than 14 lakh subscribers. The response has been overwhelming states Tanmay, “People comment, applaud and are outraged. On Air with AIB is creating awareness amongst people, every time we talk about any issue on the show, people respond to us as they did not know about the issues we speak on earlier."

     “OTT has provided a platform for us, not only as creators and artist and at the same time the broadcast players get original content. OTT gives content creators a better distribution channel."  Tanmay explains.

    The show is produced by Only Much Louder (OML), who also manages AIB and the deal between Hotstar and OML is for three years.

     Speaking on the deal with AIB, Only Much Louder Limited director Ajay Nair said, “The show format needs a fair amount of resources. AIB has been on YouTube for long time but this time we wanted to do a long format. We have been working and researching for quite a time with a large team. We were talking to other platforms besides Hotstar, and it worked well with them. Apart from OTT they wanted to take to television which was good deal. As you can see, it is doing really well. ”

    Whether it is YouTube or Hotstar or DittoTV or Zenga TV or Hooq or Voot or Are or nexGTv, all players have taken their first few steps to understand what consumers want, how they want to consume their content, and how much are they are willing to transact to view that content.

    Nair revealed, “It is as expensive as any other television show. We manage other artists also besides AIB, we do lot of thing on digital and then we look at other platforms. We focus on all the platforms; 25 per cent to 30 per cent focus on other platforms and up-to 70 per cent on YouTube. The Hotstar app is free, it is not subscription based."

    Despite the factual news format; it's always good to see serious facts wrapped in humor. The last question remains is whether All India Bakchod will be able to keep the pace of critical social conversations that John Oliver and John Stewart kept in their shows. Will AIB keep up their voices? Will they sustain the expectations put up on them? Well, only time will tell.

    A quote by Nathaniel Branden penned comes to mind, “The first step toward change is awareness. The second step is acceptance.” AIB is creating the awareness part and the audience has to accept it.

  • Big Magic & Big FM to launch comedy show

    Big Magic & Big FM to launch comedy show

    MUMBAI: After launching an integrated satirical comedy show called Fakebook with TV actress Kavita Kaushik, Reliance Broadcast Network’s entertainment channel Big Magic and 92.7 Big FM will be launching yet another integrated series.

     

    The series called Comedy Ka Rocket will be presented in a completely fresh, upbeat and contemporary avatar; designed for viewers to embrace the weekend with variety comedy entertainment.

     

    The first few episodes of Comedy Ka Rocket will be around Dussehra (23rdOctober), Indian weddings (30th October) and Diwali (6th November) on BIG Magic at 9 pm and every Sunday at 12 pm on 92.7 BIG FM.

     

    Sharing some insights on the new series, Big Magic creative director Bimal Unnikrishnan said,”In sync with our viewers preferences and new programming strategy, we have conceptualised Comedy Ka Rocket, a series which will appear every Friday with optimal comedic content and an amalgamation of all genres of comedy. We are aiming to take entertainment a notch higher, with new innovations in content designing and programming. We are sure our viewers will enjoy the show and will see this as one of the best ways to embrace the weekend.”

     

    The show will have three hosts namely Karan Tacker, Vishal Singh and Gaurav Khanna, who will take audiences on a rib-tickling riot. They will be joined by different celebrities every week, adding to the fun quotient.

     

    Big Magic will celebrate the festive season through a #FullOnLoL feast of sketches, spoofs, song parodies, mimicry, candid content, stand-up acts, dances, fun interactions with celebrities and lots more. The Dussehra special episode Bollywood Ke Villain will features popular villain Shakti Kapoor as a special guest. 

     

    Taking a cue from the essence of this festival, villains will take centre stage this time round instead of the heroes. They will be celebrated and their importance in the life of a hero will be showcased in full splendour.

     

    Celebrating the Wedding season, Sana Kapoor of Shaandaar fame will be seen as the celeb walk-in and the event will focus on the madness that surrounds a bollywood themed Indian wedding. The audience will witness a glimpse of the hilariously chaotic moments that leads up to a Big Fat Indian wedding. Celebrating Diwali with Bollywood Ke Patakhe, Sana Saeed and Natasa Stankovic will enthral audiences with their dance performances.

  • Big Magic undergoes revamp; observes 30% viewership growth

    Big Magic undergoes revamp; observes 30% viewership growth

    MUMBAI: Comedy is a serious business. It was in the year 2011 when Anil Ambani-led Reliance Broadcast Network Ltd (RBNL) announced its foray into regional television space with the launch of its Hindi entertainment channel – Big Magic (for Central India – MP /UP).

     

    In 2013, tailored to meet the preferences of Hindi speaking markets of India, it was launched across Hindi Speaking Markets (HSM’s) on the back of phase II of cable TV digitisation.

     

    In 2014, it launched as a national general entertainment channel for India, positioned as a humour destination which comprised light relationship dramas, rom-coms, sitcoms, movies and a historical comedy.

     

    This year, it has shed its current logo and gone for a complete makeover by launching a fresh new look and channel identity. The content as part of the renewed strategic vision will be unpredictable, cutting edge, quirky, contemporary, surprising, differentiated, hilarious and entertaining; targeting families, but predominantly the male audience.

     

    With original content including a high degree of humour, viewers will enjoy shows in the sitcom, non-fiction space, focused on building iconic characters which are stand out, quirky and funny. The content offered will be platform agnostic with a large play on the digital and mobile medium.

     

    Research, the key factor

     

    According to RBNL CEO Tarun Katial as the consumers’ taste changes dynamically and quickly, the channel wanted to sharpen its comedy positioning and appeal to the urban audiences’ mindset and bring about a relatable icon in its identity which is emoticon. “Today emoticon is used by everybody and it’s an extremely relatable form of communication amongst consumers,” he says.

     

    Including regulatory approvals, it has been a four month process for the revamp of the channel. Extensive research was done amongst the core TG to understand the kind of comedy and content consumers want. The research showed that the content being desired was extremely dynamic, vibrant, surprising and iirreverent comedy and the logo is build on that thought. The new look has been designed by Purple Pink agency.

     

    Talking about the new look identity, RBNL network creative director Paritosh Painter says, “At Big Magic, we strive to offer comedy content that is fresh, surprising, unpredictable and fully over the top. In line with our new campaign, we will continue our commitment to offer a comical line up of hilarious sitcoms, surprising and unpredictable short formats on topical issues, laugh out loud weekend special and festive specials.”

     

    With the new identity, the channel aims to build a strong line-up of content at both long and short formats. With currently two and half hours to three hours of original content running everyday with shows like Akbar Birbal, Tedi Medi Family, Total Nadaniyaan amongst others, the channel is all set to take the original hours of content to 4 hours a day. Big Magic will launch two new shows in the next couple of months, one of which will be an unscripted show in the late primetime band and an irreverent young comedy in the early evening.

     

    The channel will also air an animated series with Akbar Birbal and bring one of its Big FM 92.7 Radio show – Actor calling Actor on to television.

     

    “On the content front, our attempt is to build a certain amount of iconic characters around male irreverent comedy. We believe that Indians are ready to laugh at each other and themselves. This is predominantly young urban male skewed content that we want to launch,” explains Katial.

     

    In terms of marketing, the channel will strongly focus on digital and mobile. Katial believes that comedy content moves very quickly and goes viral on platforms like digital and mobile. “For us content is marketing and marketing is content,” he says.

     

    Katial further reveals that after Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) India started rolling out data, the channel has witnessed a 30 per cent growth in viewership.

     

    For the record, the channel is available across all DTH platforms such as Tata Sky, Airtel Digital TV, Videocon d2h, DD Free Dish, Dish TV, Reliance Digital TV along with all cable operators including the likes of Hathway Cable & Datacom, Incable, Digicable, Den Networks, 7 Star, ABS, Siti Cable, Star Broadband and GTPL amongst others.

  • Yamraj back on being the TV favourite

    Yamraj back on being the TV favourite

    MUMBAI: The god we all dread has been the butt of many jokes on Indian television. The god of death aka Yamraj has appeared on a number of shows and in return has made the audiences laugh.

     

    Once again, Yamraj is back in the television industry with two shows being aired on him.

     

    Epic, the latest entrant in the Hindi entertainment space, airs Yam Kissi se Kam Nahi, a sitcom which takes a tongue-in-cheek approach to the life of Yamraj as he tries, often unsuccessfully, to overcome various hurdles in his daily life.

     

    Produced by David Polycarp and Vasant under the banner Trouble Makers Studios/The Company Productions, Rajesh Kumar plays the role of Yamraj in the sitcom. The channel usually airs weekly, but the sitcom is an exception. The programme, which shows Yamraj leading a life of an aam aadmi with his nagging wife, a troublesome brother-in-law, a disgruntled assistant, jealous neighbours, grumpy in-laws, an over-bearing boss and many other ordinary problems make up the daily life,  is aired Monday-Friday at 8:30 pm.

     

    Why a channel focusing on mythology and folklore chose to do a comedy revolving around the god of death? Says the channel’s MD Mahesh Samat, “We have an emotional connect with our past which has a spectrum of emotions. We wanted to encompass all aspects of history, including action, drama, romance and even comedy. If we are truly trying to capture Indian history, then we cannot ignore the Navras. ‘Yam Kisi Se Kam Nahin’ is a great example of taking a lighter look at history and mythology. It’s a sit-com that offers us a fictional look at Yamraj, viewed through a very different lens. It aligns with our approach of offering content that is meaningful and engaging.”

     

    On the similar lines, Sab, a comedy channel from the Multi Screen media (MSM) stable, will soon replace Chandrakant Chiplunkar Seedi Bambawala with Yam Hai Hum. The show produced by Swastik Productions is said to be based on the famous movie Taqdeerwala featuring actors Daggubati Venkatesh, Kader Khan and Asrani.

     

    The show will see Manav Gohil playing the lead character of Yamraj and air Monday-Friday at 10 pm.

     

    What is intriguing is that two channels will air shows revolving around the somewhat same characters. One will only have to wait and see which one will be able to make a connect with the viewers.

  • Bill Cosby set for comeback with NBC’s family comedy

    Bill Cosby set for comeback with NBC’s family comedy

    MUMBAI: Once a household name in the 1980s, Bill Cosby is believed to be returning with a half-hour family comedy. According to recent reports NBC has signed on the 1984, The Cosby Show star in an effort to revive the sitcom genre and pump in some much needed ratings for the network.

     

    Cosby will be looking to bring some of the old magic back to NBC, which has been going through a rough time with comedies. The deal brings the 76-year-old entertainer together with a writing staff to create a script for a comedy that casts Cosby as the patriarch of a multigenerational family and, like the comedian’s previous family sitcoms – Cosby Show and Cosby on CBS – will see him giving his take on marriage and parenting.

     

    Cosby’s latest TV venture is Bill Cosby: Far From Finished, a stand-up comedy special that premiered on Comedy Central in November.

  • Sri Adhikari Brothers to raise Rs 100 crore

    Sri Adhikari Brothers to raise Rs 100 crore

    MUMBAI: It is one of the more successful Indian-origin companies in the media industry that delved into the comedy genre with SAB TV, which it sold to the Sony Entertainment Television in India. It followed that up with niche channel forays, the most recent of which is a Marathi comedy and music channel Maiboli. Now, Sri Adhikari Brothers Television Network Ltd (SABTNL), has once again drawn up ambitious expansion plans and has decided to raise funds of upto Rs 100 crore to bankroll them.

     

    In a disclosure to the Bombay Stock Exchange, SABTNL  says that it will be offering 100 lakh warrants with an option to subscribe for equivalent number of equity shares of Rs 10 each at a price that may be determined by SEBI regulations. The warrants are to be issued on a preferential basis to the persons in the promoter group and others.

     

    The purpose of the fund raising exercise, says SABTNL, is to meet general long term financial and working capital needs and also to expand its successfully growing broadcasting business. The plans are subject to shareholder approval  which it will be seeking through postal ballot.

  • “My immediate focus is on turning around Sony Ent, our flagship channel”

    “My immediate focus is on turning around Sony Ent, our flagship channel”

    He has been fairly low profile, mild-mannered and soft spoken. But underneath the soft exterior NP Singh is tough as nails and a fiesty fighter just like many from the Sikh community – to which he belongs – are known to be. Recently, Singh was hoicked to the CEO’s position at Multi Screen Media India – Sony Entertainment Television Network India – after running it as COO for nearly a decade. He replaced Man Jit Singh – who has moved on to a global position looking after its home entertainment business.

     

    NP is a long time Sony loyalist as he joined it way back in 1999 as CFO.  He has been given charge at a challenging time when the network’s flagship channel Sony Entertainment is at  a lowly sixth position amongst Hindi GECs, just a tad above Sahara. That’s a far cry from the third or fourth spot it occupied until 2012.

     

    Currently in his mid-50s, has seen the highs and lows of not only the Sony Entertainment Network, but the industry as well. His appointment has put his rivals on alert because it is he who pushed the transformation of Sab into a topnotch Hindi comedy offering, Pix into a channel showcasing Hollywood blockbusters, and successfully launched Mix in a crowded music channel market place. 

     

    In a conversation with Indiantelevision.com’s Seema Singh, NP speaks of his immediate plans and the road ahead.

     

    Excerpts:

     

    15 years in Sony and now becoming the CEO. What is the feeling?

     

    I have enjoyed every day that I have been here. I joined the company in June 1999 as the CFO and then got elevated to the position of chief operating officer and now the chief executive officer. I have seen the entire journey. The company is 18 years old and I have been here for the past 15 years. I have been a part of a lot of success and have also faced multiple challenges. Overall, it has been a fantastic journey. I am happy that I have been given the role to head the company.

     

    What are the challenges that lie ahead for the Network?

     

    The number one priority for me is to turn on the power of the flagship channel, Sony. In the short time, this will be my focus. We have seen success on the flagship channel not too long ago. In 2012, the channel was doing extremely well. Since 2012 end, the channel started seeing a drop in viewership; my objective is to arrest that drop and put the channel on the path of growth.

     

    Every CEO has a dream team. What is yours? Do we see any management changes in the future? Who do we see as the next COO for the Network?

     

    We have a strong management team with very good talent across the company. And we have been proud of the team and I will continue to work with them to achieve the dream that we have collectively for the company.

     

    Changes are a part of life and as we go forward, there may or may not be any changes, but it is too premature to comment on.  

     

    For now there will be no COO for the company. We have a strong management team and I will work directly with them to achieve the objectives set.

     

    Will life change for you after becoming a CEO?

     

    I have been here and have been partnering with Man Jit Singh who was here as CEO earlier. I have been part of all the successes and challenges and am acutely aware of what needs to be done. So it doesn’t have any major impact on my life going forward. Except that I will not have a COO right now and so I will interact with the management team directly. This means I will be spending more time in the office, of which I do not complain.

     

    What are the opportunities you have as a CEO?

     

    There are multiple opportunities. In the near term, my first priority is the turnaround of Sony and within that lies an opportunity for growth in revenue of the company. I see growth opportunities on the distribution side as well. That is something we have to stay focused on and we have to help grow the ARPUs at the subscriber level so that the benefit can flow right through the value chain upward to content owners like us.

     

    I see huge opportunity in the exploitation of digital platforms through mobile phones and tablets. If we can get our content to the audience through this medium, we will see a huge rise in revenue.

     

    I also see an opportunity in the regional market that we will evaluate over a period of time and then make our choices.

     

    Sony launched ‘Sony Mahotsav’ in UP, Punjab and Haryana starting from November 2013. What was the reason for it and how has the response been?

     

    We launched it with the objective to engage with our viewers in these markets. We want to take the brand to these markets and also our artistes from major shows to those cities to make the brand more accessible to them.

     

    The response has been positive and we will continue to build on this initiative going forward as well because we want to engage audiences of smaller towns with the channel. This is one initiative. We are also trying to build that engagement through our content and communication.

     

    Phase I and II of digitisation is complete. Do you see that helping the Network in getting better reach and viewership numbers?

     

    Digitisation will not grow our overall viewership base. It will lead to more transparency from the broadcasters’ perspective. Because digitisation will bring about addressability, there will be more information/ transparency about the viewer or subscriber we have for the network. Having said that phase I and II have been completed, set top boxes (STBs) have been installed in the households, but the real addressability has still not happened.

     

    There is still time for that. The MSOs do not have the database for those STBs. We are supporting them through campaigns running on our network. Hopefully in the next few months, they can get the data from the local cable operator and create a database and then start invoicing the subscribers directly. That will happen in the next few months and then over next two years complete addressability will come in and there will be benefits right from the viewer up to the broadcaster and content creator.

     

    Sony has always believed in experimenting with the content. But the past few years have not done too well for the channel. Is it that the channel is too ahead of time? Why aren’t you able to connect with the audience?

     

    It is a combination of multiple factors. Till 2012, we were clearly the number two ranking channel.  We were also at number one during the nine week period when the ratings did not get reported. But since then we have seen a decline in viewership and there are multiple factors behind it. One of the key factors was the universe update by TAM and the inclusion of LC1 markets in reporting viewership. The LC1 market has a 25 per cent share in the total viewership pie and that impacted our ratings. Secondly, some of our fiction shows also didn’t perform the way we expected them to.

     

    But we are the pioneers in the many new concepts and ideas. Some of them have been way ahead of time, for example the YRF shows that we brought to our viewers. Those were top quality shows that were accepted and appreciated by one set of audience, while not taken well by the other set of audience. But that doesn’t mean we will stop coming up with path breaking ideas. We have not been successful in the recent past, but that will not stop us from continuing to follow that path.

     

    The fiction shows have not done well for the channel. Also the non-fiction slate is developing fatigue. How do you plan to strengthen the programming slate?

     

    We have to continue to innovate. We did that successfully with the last season of Indian Idol in which we introduced kids. Also in Kaun Banega Crorepati (KBC) we brought several innovations. Though it was well received in the beginning, eventually it settled down at a lower number. But that doesn’t mean there is fatigue with the format of the show. We will do something more when we bring KBC the next time.

     

    We are looking at refreshing our weekend primetimes and that is why we got Boogie Woogie back on TV, which is doing well for the channel. We will be bringing back Entertainment Ke Liye Kuch Bhi Karega as well. The first and foremost task is to look at our fiction strategy and revamp that. Our plan is to bring in new shows to weekday primetime and strengthen it. We realise that it is there where we can build loyalties with the viewer. So that is the focus, followed by refreshing the weekend.

     

    Though Sony India is doing well and contributes some 40-50 per cent  to the overall revenue of the Sony Pictures’ media networks business, there is pressure on Sony from investors such as Dan Loeb to make Sony’s entertainment business deliver. Is that putting any pressure on you? How do you plan to cope with that?

     

    MSM is a very strong performer for the entire Sony Corporation. We have performed really well and India has a lot of growth opportunity and we are getting a lot of investment from the parent into the company. Whatever new initiative we come up with, till the time it makes strategic and economic sense we will get investment support from the parent.

     

    You will be reporting into Andy Kaplan, what is it like to work with him? Are there more challenges now?

     

    I have worked with Andy for the past several years and I don’t see any change in the dynamics of our relationship. I look forward to working with him even more closely now.

     

    What do you think is missing in the Sony slate?

     

    There will always be some unfinished agenda at any point in time. But right now we have everything to make the network more successful. There are some new initiatives that we are working on for the future growth of the network, which we will announce in due course of time, but first and foremost objective is the turnaround of our flagship channel.

     

    The network bouquet looks weak without any strong regional offerings. Are you looking at strengthening it by moving south?

     

    We have one channel in West Bengal. So we have one channel as far as the regional space is concerned, but it is a small channel, which has carved a niche for itself. We are looking at some other markets and currently we are evaluating all the options and will make our choice in due course of time.

     

    Unbundling of bouquets is something which Dish TV has recently encouraged by offering IndiaCast channels on an a la carte basis. Then the TRAI may soon come up with its recommendation paper on aggregators. Do you see that affecting the distribution of channels?

     

    We always follow very collaborative process in any negotiation that we do with our partners and like everyone else Dish TV is also a strong partner. We have had strong relations with them in the past and even now.

     

    There has been a lot of conjecture about the TRAI consultation paper on aggregators, but no one knows what will happen. Will cross that bridge when the recommendation comes out.

     

     Are you looking at launching any new channel?

     

    We never do something because other networks are doing it. We always do things that are good for our Network. We will do what makes strategic and economic sense for us. And from that perspective, if we have to launch a new channel we will.

     

    You can watch more of what the Sony Entertainmetnt CEO has to say by clicking here: Executive Dossier with MSM India CEO NP Singh