ITV

Tag: Salman Khan

  • Salman tops the chart for being most savvy on digital media

    Salman tops the chart for being most savvy on digital media

    MUMBAI: Salman Khan emerged as the most digital savvy celebrity with an overall score of 16.1, according to TO THE NEW Digital Celebrity Index for the month of September. Khan ranked as number one while Shahrukh Khan and Amitabh Bachchan ranked at number two and three scoring 14.6 and 14.5 respectively.

    As per the TO THE NEW Digital data, Priyanka Chopra has emerged as the most active celebrity in social media, on the basis of highest number of posts on all the platforms including Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Chopra topped the chart with a total of 531 posts. Amitabh Bachchan is the second most active celebrity after Chopra with a total of 168 posts.

    On Facebook, Chopra had 75 posts during the month of September whereas Bachchan was close second with 71 posts during the same month. Female celebrities are more active when it comes to Instagram as compared to males. On Instagram, Chopra has total number of 66 posts. Sonam Kapoor was the second most active celebrity with a total of 45 posts.

    Chopra had 704 tweets, most of which were about her American TV show Quantico, which was launched on 27th Sep. Amitabh Bachchan grabbed the second spot in the list with a total of 140 tweets which were more generic in nature.

    Madhuri Dixit emerged as the most engaging celebrity on the basis of highest number of netizens she had engaged with on all platforms including likes, comments and shares on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. The posts made by Dixit were found to be most engaging among all the celebrities with a score of 11.8 M. Shahid Kapoor remained the second most engaging celebrity with a total engagement of 1.0 M.  Shahrukh Khan was the most engaging celebrity with a total engagement of 694,913 for the month of September.  Most of the tweets made by Shahrukh Khan were generic in nature where 32 per cent of his total tweets were re-tweets.  

    Madhuri Dixit received the highest engagement ratio of 47 per cent with 25.1M of total fans. Shahrukh ranked at number two with 38 percent of engagement ratio with 18.2M of total fans. Alia Bhatt, Shahid Kapoor and Sonam Kapoor ranked at number three, four and five with 34 per cent of engagement ratio with 9.6 M, 3.2M and 1.6 M of total fans. .

    Deepika Padukone has the highest reach across social media platforms (Twitter, Facebook and Instagram) with total of 39.8 M fans. It was also observed that despite very high number of posts, Priyanka Chopra could not gather many fans and ended up securing only fifth position among all the celebrities with total fan base of 31.7 M fans on all the social media platforms combined. Padukone had the highest number of Facebook fans among all the celebrities that was close to 27.6 M while Salman khan was close second with a total of 27.1 M fans and Amitabh Bachchan was close to 21.9 M of fans and ranked at number three. Padukone also topped the fan base on Instagram with 3.7M fans. Alia Bhatt was a close second with a total of 3.5 M fans.  Priyanka Chopra secured third position with 3.4 M.

    It was noticed that male celebrities had higher number of fans as compared to female celebrities when it comes to Twitter.  Unlike Facebook or Instagram, Amitabh Bachchan has the biggest fan base on Twitter with a close to 17.3 M followers. Shahid Kapoor remained a close second with a total of 15.7 M fans. Even after having the biggest celebrity base on Facebook as well as Instagram, Deepika Padukone could only secure 4th place with respect to the fan base on Twitter.

    Salman Khan came up as the most searched celebrity by netizens on Google with a total of 4.5 M searches during the month of September. That also overlapped the other celebrities in a big way, since the second most searched celebrity, Paukone could only secure 2.5 M searches for the same duration. Anushka Sharma bagged third position with 2.4M searches, Shahrukh Khan secured fourth spot with 2.3 M and Akshay Kumar grabbed fifth place with 1.5 M searches.

  • Prem Ratan Dhan Payo ends extended weekend with Rs 129.77 crore

    Prem Ratan Dhan Payo ends extended weekend with Rs 129.77 crore

    *Prem Ratan Dhan Payo, as expected, made the most of an early start with its release a day earlier on Thursday, to cash in on Diwali festival weekend, The Suraj Barjatya-Salman Khan combine as well as its solo release status worked in its favour and the drought of major release for some time brought the film the biggest first day figure ever at the box office as the film collected a record Rs 41 crore on Thursday. The not so good word of mouth affected the collection and footfalls on day two, Friday as the film dropped by over 25 percent and collected Rs 30 crore. On Saturday, the film collected a little less over its Fridayfigures and could not grow on  Sunday finally ending its four day weekend with Rs 129.77 crore.

     

    *Charlie Ke Chakkar Mein, a poor thriller with Naseeruddin Shah playing an investigator trying to track down a cache of cocaine and related murders, had the makings for a tedious watch. The film bombed badly falling short of even Rs one crore mark with just Rs 80 lakh trickling in.

     

    *Ranbanka, with Ravi Kishen in the lead, was expected to help the makers make a decent box office in UP and Bihar, belied expectations. The film managed to collect just Rs 10 lakh in its first week nationally.

     

    *Yaara Silly Silly and Four Pillars Of Basement collected just Rs 15 lakh and Rs 25 lakh, respectively, in their first week.

     

    *Titli collected 40 lakh in its second week taking its two week total to 2 crore.

     

    **Main Aur Charles had a poor second week managing to collect just Rs 90 lakh to take its two week total to Rs 6.5 crore.

     

    *Shaandaar added Rs 25 lakh in its third week to take its three week tally to Rs 35.25 crore.

     

    *Pyaar Ka Punchnama held strong in its fourth week by collecting Rs 2.45 crore and takes its four week to Rs 61.15 crore.

  • Prem Ratan Dhan Payo…

    Prem Ratan Dhan Payo…

    Prem Ratan Dhan Payo is about palace intrigue, conspiracy and, as is the wont with Rajshri movies, reconciliation and happy endings. Despite being based on a royal background, the essence remains the same as all SoorajBarjatya films: family and values. This is also the costliest venture Rajshri has produced.

    Salman Khan aka Prem is a street-smart Rambhakta in Ayodhya and loves to perform the role of Ram during Ram Leela. As in most films, Prem has a sidekick in Deepak Dobriyal. Salman Khan aka Vijay Singh is the crown prince of faraway place calledPritampur and due for his Rajyabhishek (crowning).

    Vijay has royal bearings and makes sure he shows it. One of the routines he follows is to have a sabre dual with his step brother, Neil NitinMukesh. Neil is much influenced negativelyin the palace by ArmaanKohli, a sort of major domo. Also, at odds with Vijay are his two step sisters, SwaraBhaskar and Ashika Bhatia, who want a share in the royal property. Swara ekes out a living as a teacher while Ashika is a student and good at playing football.

    Neilconspires with Armaan to remove Vijay from the scene so that he can usurp all the property; he has also been made to believe by Armaan that all his bills are to be sanctioned by elder brother Vijay. Vijay always clears all the bills but Armaan makes Neil believe otherwise thus creating a rift between brothers.

    Though about royalty, the film takes a contemporary approach. But we don’t know why Vijay travels in an old style stagecoach while the rest of the people use limousines. That is probably to make it easy for Armaan and Neil to bump him off! So, the coach rider jumps off the coach locking Vijay inside and the coach falls off a cliff.

    In comes Prem, put in place by the only loyalist, AnupamKher, a diwan from Vijay’s father’s time. Vijay has survived but is badly hurt. While he is being treated by doctors in some secret hideout, thanks to AnupamPrem is asked to pretend to be Vijay. Prem has a reason to accept because he has secretly fallen in love with Sonam Kapoor, a princess from another state, who is due in Pritampur for the occasion since she is the fiancé of Vijay.

    Sonam wants out of the impending marriage because she and Vijay are poles apart.Prem takes it upon himself to correct her misgivings about Vijay by being very nice to her. After all, he is the Rajshri hero who only has other people’s best at heart even if he has to make sacrifices. He also uses his goodness to win over the estranged stepsisters promising them equal share in all the royal wealth. No matter it does not belong to him!

    It is time to contend with the evildoers, Armaan and Neil, who have kidnapped Vijay from the hideout. For whatever reason, they take Prem to the spot where Vijay is captive. Armaan is now ready to betray even Neil and plans to let Vijay and Neil get into sabre fight till one is killed.

    Sonam’s job meanwhile is to sing songs with Salman and help him play the replacement Vijay with conviction by reminding him of her and Vijay’s past encounter. Of course, by now Sonam has also fallen in love with Prem and become demonstrative in expressing her love for him. All the negative feelings of various character are neutralized by Prem and he gets the trophy.

    PremRatanDhanPayo is unnecessarily long. The first half is as good as irrelevant as nothing interesting happens and the leisurely narrative coupled with loose script make the process slow and boring. The film shows some promise in the latter parts of the second half but again becomes predictable with a routine climax. The SoorajBarjatya touch is missing here and one also notices a few glitches here and there. There is an overdose of songs which are placed at random. However, the film has generally good score. Four of the songs have popular appeal. Sets are good and are well exploited by the cinematographer.

    The film is all about Salman and he dominates the screen throughout. Though the Vijay part is brief compared to Prem, Salman juxtaposes both parts very well. What ails the film is the total lack of chemistry between Salman and Sonam and the latter’s limitations as an actor, the fact which makes the romance hard to believe. Anupam lends credibility to his character of a loyal diwan. Neil has a smaller role and limited scope. Deepak, Swara and Ashika are okay. Armaan fails to make a mark.

    PremRatanDhanPayo may interest audiences away from metros with multiplex crowd soon tapering out. The film has opened to full houses all over and is expected to cross 40 crore mark on day one (released on Thursday), but it faces an uphill task with a price tag of 135 crore.

    Producers: Kamal Kumar Barjatya, Raj Kumar Barjatya, Ajit Kumar Barjatya.

    Director: Sooraj RBarjatya.                       

    Cast: Salman Khan, Sonam Kapoor, AnupamKher, Neil NitinMukesh, SwaraBhaskar, ArmaanKohli, Deepak Dobriyal, Samaira Rao.

  • ‘Baahubali’ premiere on Sony Max betters Salman Khan’s ‘Bajrangi Bhaijaan’ ratings

    ‘Baahubali’ premiere on Sony Max betters Salman Khan’s ‘Bajrangi Bhaijaan’ ratings

    MUMBAI: The two Bs that created the maximum buzz at the Indian box office this year were Bajrangi Bhaijaan and Baahubali – The Beginning. While the former starring Salman Khan did wonders at its recent world television premiere on Star Gold, the latter has gone and bettered its performance on the small screen.

    According to TAM Media Research’s analytical division S-Group, Baahubali – The Beginning has toppledBajrangi Bhaijaan with TVR of 6.85 on Sony Max. Bajrangi Bhaijaan notched 6.80 TVR in its world TV premiere on Star Gold.

    As was earlier reported by Indiantelevision.com, Star Gold emerged as the number one channel in the Hindi movie genre with the premiere of Bajrangi Bhaijaan. The movie perched itself on the sixth spot on the elite list of the Top 10 world television premieres from 2010 – 2015 as per TAM Media Research.

    However, Baahubali has now replaced Bajrangi Bhaijaan in the sixth spot of the top 10 world television premiere list.

    Baahubali, directed by S. S Rajamouli and produced by Shobu Yarlagadda and Prasad Devineni, was made in Telugu and Tamil. It was also dubbed in Hindi, Malayalam and French languages.

    Baahubali had its Hindi world television premieres in week 44 (25 October) on Sony Max. It may be recalled that it was telecast on Malayalam and Telugu languages, earlier in October.

    Baahubali in Telugu telecast on Star India’s regional channel Maa TV received the maximum TVR of 21.8, followed by its Malayalam version on Mazhavil Manorama with 16.1 TVR and last but not the least in Hindi on Sony Max with 6.85 TVR.

    Aamir Khan’s 3 Idiots with 10.88 TVR leads the top ten list of world television premiere followed by Salman Khan’s Bodyguard with 9.95 TVR in the second spot. Shah Rukh Khan’s Chennai Express with 9.50 TVR stands in the third spot, while yet another Salman’s Dabangg is on fourth spot with 9.19 TVR. In the fifth position is the Ajay Devgn starrer Singham with 8.72 TVR.

    In week 44 Baahubali replaced blockbuster Bajrangi Bhaijaan, which was dominating the sixth spot in week 42. Baahubali with 6.85 TVR bagged the sixth slot in the top ten list just above the Bajrangi Bhaijaan, which is in seventh slot with 6.80 TVR. In eight spot is the Shah Rukh Khan starrer Ra.One,which received 6.72 TVR and Aamir’s PK was at ninth spot with 6.62 TVR. In tenth spot is the Akshay Kumar starrer Entertainment movie premiere with 5.49 TVR.

    Bajrangi Bhaijaan was heavily promoted and hence received 81 per cent promo reach and average frequency of 15.5. Baahubali, on the other hand, was promoted to achieve a 70 per cent each. Bajrangi Bhaijaan received 23.3 per cent whereas Baahubali received a higher reach conversion that is 25.1 per cent among the both the movies, on Hindi speaking market (HSM).

  • Cartoon Network & Pogo spruce up programming for Diwali

    Cartoon Network & Pogo spruce up programming for Diwali

    MUMBAI: With Diwali and Children’s Day around the corner, Turner International India’s kids’ channels – Cartoon Network and Pogo, are pulling out all stops to line up week-long celebrations with new movies, specials and contests including a chance to win a trip to Singapore.

     

    What’s more, Cartoon Network will also be celebrating the birthday of popular cartoon character Kris (Roll No. 21) with a week-long stunt. From 9 – 14 November, kids can tune into Kris Ka Dhamakedar Birthdayat 10:30 am to watch movies and specials including Salman Khan’s latest cameo on Cartoon Network in theKris Sang Salman Aayo special.

     

    Additionally, watch Lights Camera Roll No. 21: Ticket to Bollywood, a new movie featuring Kris making his Bollywood debut will be aired on 14 November at 10:30 am.

     

    In the spirit of gifting this festive season, Kris will celebrate his birthday and Diwali with six lucky fans. All kids have to do is tune in to the Kris ka Dhamakedar Birthday contest and participate in the contest to win an invite to the party.

     

    On the other hand Pogo will air the Dholakpurwali Diwali stunt from 9 – 13 November. The channel will roll out back-to-back Chhota Bheem movies and specials that will be aired throughout the week from 9 am onwards. On 11 November, Pogo will feature a new movie called Chhota Bheem: Dinosaur World at 12 pm. Additionally, on Pogo’s Prem Dilwala Aur Bheem Dholakpurwala will see Salman Khan’s third appearance on the channel on 12 November at 12pm.

     

    Kids can also win a holiday to Singapore by participating in the Dholakpurwali Diwali contest from 9 – 13November by answering a few questions.

  • BARC week 41: ‘Bajrangi Bhaijaan’ propels Star Gold to No 1; Movies Now leads English movie genre

    BARC week 41: ‘Bajrangi Bhaijaan’ propels Star Gold to No 1; Movies Now leads English movie genre

    MUMBAI: Star Gold ascended to the top spot in the Hindi movie channels genre with the premier of the Salman Khan starrer Bajrangi Bhaijaan in week 41 according to Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) all India (U+R) data.

     

    On the other hand, amongst English movie channels, Times Network’s Movies Now continued to lead the chart in week 41.

     

    In the Hindi movie channels genre, Star Gold grabbed the first position with 486374 (000Sums) followed by Zee Cinema in the second slot with 378717 (000Sums) and Sony Max in the third spot with 369954 (000Sums). Movies OK with 190804(000Sums) and &Pictures with 170152 (000Sums) secured fourth and fifth slot respectively.

     

    In the English movie channels genre, Movies Now led the chart and grabbed the first position with 3200 (000Sums) followed by Sony Pix in the second spot, which scored 1893 (000Sums) and Star Movies with 1793 (000Sums) in the third spot.

     

    Zee Studio secured the fourth berth with 1660 (000Sums), where HBO bagged the fifth slot with 1533 (000Sums).

     

    In week 40 (C&S 1lac+), Sony Max led the Hindi movies genre with 199451(000Sums) followed by Zee Cinema in the second slot with 175363 (000Sums), whereas Star Gold was on the third rung with 129877 (000Sums). On the other hand, in the English movies section, Movies Now led the genre with 3083 (000Sums) followed by Sony Pix with 2097 (000Sums) in the second slot and HBO with 1818 (000Sums) in the third place in week 40 (C&S 1lac+).

  • ‘Bigg Boss 9’ preens on Twitter with 80K conversations

    ‘Bigg Boss 9’ preens on Twitter with 80K conversations

    MUMBAI: As Colors’ most anticipated reality show Bigg Boss season 9 launched on 11 October, Bigg Boss and Salman Khan fans used Twitter as a medium to express and add on to the excitement across the country. Twitter proved to be the largest platform for virtual couch to watch Bigg Boss season 9.

     

    The mood on the social networking site was in sync with the show’s entertainment quotient, with conversations around #BB9 hashtag reaching more than 80,000 tweets on the day of the premiere episode.

     

    Twitter conversation went up by 104 per cent this year as compare to compare to last year’s premiere episode day, positioning Bigg Boss season 9 as one of the biggest TV moments of the year on Twitter.

     

    Fans used Twitter to talk about all the revelations that was stored in hours before the launch episode went on air at 9 pm on Colors.

     

    As the contestant announcements rolled in, users tweeted their opinions on various things from the possible love triangles that might form on the show, to the theme of #DoubleTrouble twist as well as about Khan’s antics.

    Salman Khan’s Tweet announcing the launch of Season 9 was one of the most shared #BB9 Tweets last night viewed over 250,000 times on Twitter:

    At the start of the episode, the actor walked the contestants through the new #DoubleTrouble twist, where contestants would be entering the house in pairs:

    Bigg Boss’s official Twitter account (@BiggBoss) became the go-to destination for fans to get real-time updates on the premiere episode as the account live-tweeted throughout the 2.5 hour duration of the episode. Minutes before entering the Bigg Boss House, the contestants too opted for Twitter Mirror to dole out exclusive autographed photos of themselves for their fans.

    The content published by @BiggBoss ranged from exclusive photos of the new, neon-coloured Bigg Boss House to performance pictures, selfies. Contestant accounts were also up fronted for fans to follow throughout the season. The fans were delighted with the twist and turns that the first episode provided.

  • Airtel Digital TV launches 4K UHD channel

    Airtel Digital TV launches 4K UHD channel

    MUMBAI: Airtel Digital TV, the direct to home (DTH) arm of mobile services provider Bharti Airtel, has launched its first 4K-Ultra HD (UHD) channel. 

     

    Airtel will showcase the world TV premiere of the Salman Khan starrer blockbuster Bajrangi Bhaijaan on the newly launched channel on 11 October.

     

    Bajrangi Bhaijaan is the first movie to premiere on Airtel’s 4K UHD channel. 

     

    Available exclusively to users of the Samsung Smart Direct TV, the movie will premiere at 12:30 pm on Sunday on Star Gold 4K.

     

    Airtel’s 4K UHD channel is available free of cost to users of the Samsung Smart Direct TV for a limited period. Airtel will also showcase programs like Overhalin from Discovery and other movies like Singh is King, Kick and Jai Ho on the channel in the coming days.

    The Samsung Smart Direct TV is an integrated digital TV pioneered and launched by Airtel Digital TV in partnership with Samsung.

    It is among the many innovations by Airtel and is a technology platform that has miniaturized the set-top-box (STB) into a small smart card that fits inside the television set at the back panel. The solution offers a smart TV viewing experience with minimal signal loss and maximum audio & video clarity while also ensuring maximum power savings. An industry first, it uses minimal wiring and a single remote solution powered by an intuitive user guide enabling built-in Smart Card that allows customers to enjoy TV viewing without an external STB. The newly launched Samsung J-Series Smart Direct TV comes with additional features such as in-built Wi-Fi, Skype calling, Smart Apps etc.

  • Hindi GECs ace programming game as festive season descends

    Hindi GECs ace programming game as festive season descends

    MUMBAI: The Indian festival season is fast approaching and all major Hindi general entertainment channels (GECs) are pulling out new programming rabbits from their hats to lure in viewers.

     

    What’s more, with brands loosening their purses considerably for advertising purposes during the festival season, fresh programming is the best way for broadcasters to offer them a big bang for their buck.

     

    From Colors’ Bigg Boss Season 9 to Sony’s Power Couple, from Star Plus’ Aaj Ki Raat Hai Zindagi to Zee TV’s I Can Do That, broadcasters are adding muscle to their programming with star power because in a country like India, nothing works its charm better on the general public than Bollywood celebrities. So major A-list stars like Amitabh Bachchan, Salman Khan and Farhan Akhtar are prepping up to weave their magic on the small screen soon. 

     

    Be it in the fiction or non-fiction space, channels are trying hard to give exceptional shows to boost viewership. Firmly putting the saas-bahu sagas behind them, channels are now experimenting with content to stay ahead of the competition.

     

    Hindi GECs like Star Plus, Colors, Zee TV, Life OK, Sab, Sony Entertainment Television (SET) as well as &TV have multiple new shows up their sleeves, which are slated to launch in the coming months.  

     

    Here’s a look at the programming fireworks in store for the festive season across major Hindi GECs.

     

    Star Plus

     

    The leader in Hindi GECs, Star Plus has a few aces up its sleeves this festive season. And the one making the most amount of buzz as of now is the show with Amitabh Bachchan as host titled Aaj Ki Raat Hai Zindagi. Two teaser promos of the show with Big B have already managed to pique viewer interest. The show will also see Star Plus and Bachchan coming together again after a span of 15 years. Their association started back in 2000 with the first season of Kaun Banega Crorepati, which also marked Bachchan’s television debut. 

     

    In recent fiction launches, Star Plus began airing Balaji Telefilms’ new show Kuch Toh Hai Tere Mere Darmiyaan from 28 September. Apart from this, the channel has a few other shows lined up. Produced by Triangle Film Company’s Nikhil Sinha for the channel, is the mythological series titled Siya Ke Ram, which is slated to launch soon. The series will depict Sita’s story while narrating her journey with Ram.

     

    The second new fiction show on Star Plus is titled Saajan, which is produced by Rashmi Sharma Telefilms. While the show is currently under production, it is likely to launch by October end.

     

    Colors

     

    Since its prime time shows Sasural Simar Ka, Udaan and Swaragini have been rating rakers, Colors is eyeing only one new fiction show launch in the coming months called Naagin. The channel has not yet revealed the launch date of the show, which is produced by SOL Productions. That said, in the non-fiction space, Colors will be bringing back its hugely popular reality show Bigg Boss with double the vigour as host Salman Khan promises ‘Double Trouble’ this season. Not wanting to mess with its current programming line-up, Colors has slotted season nine of Bigg Boss in the new time slot of 10.30 pm on weekdays from 11 October.

     

    Zee TV

     

    While last month the channel launched a couple of new shows like Laajwanti and Yeh Vaada Raha, in October too Zee TV will continue its spree of new programming. A new fiction show called Kaala Teeka, which revolves around superstition and its impact on our society, will be launched soon. The first teaser of the show is already on air. The second new fiction show is titled Radha Krishna – Ek Aalokik Prem Gaatha, which is a romantic series that explores the love of Radha for Lord Krishna.

     

    In the non-fiction space, Zee is bringing the international non-fiction format show I Can Do That to India, which will go on air from 17 October. The show will have 12 celebrities who will perform never seen before tasks on stage. I Can Do That will be hosted by Farhan Akhtar. Another show in the non-fiction category is the second season of talent search reality show India’s Best Dramebaaz. The show will see children between the age group of 5-12 years as participants and is produced by Essel Productions.

     

    Life OK

     

    Star India’s second Hindi GEC Life OK is getting ready to herald in a couple of new shows by the end of October. The first fiction show is titled Jaane Kya Hoga Rama Re and is produced by Shobhana Desai Production. The show, which will also mark Supriya Pathak’s comeback on the small screen, was earlier titled Ram Ki Leela Rang Layegi.

     

    Two others fiction shows that are being readied for launch in the month of October are Pati Patni or Woh by Edit II Productions and Naagarjuna produced by Beyond Dream Productions.

     

    Sab TV

     

    The comedy destination on Indian television – Sab is known for quirky shows. While the channel launched a new show late last month called Police Factory, which is produced by DJs A Creative Unit, another show is slated to launch by the end of October. The new show – Chalti Ka Naam Gadi is based on a car and a family and is produced by Deepti Bhatnagar Productions.

     

    Sony Entertainment Television

     

    With an aim to reboot its programming story, Sony Entertainment Television too has a host of new shows lined up. The first in line is the fiction titled Pyar Ko Ho Jane Do starring Iqbal Khan and Mona Singh in the lead. The show will replace Reporter from 20 October in the 9 pm slot. 

     

    On the non-fiction front, the channel will be bringing the popular Israeli reality show Power Couple to India, which will be hosted by Arbaaz Khan and Malaika Arora Khan. Produced by Colosceum, the show will see 10 celebrity couples living under one roof being tested as they face extreme challenges to prove how well they know each other. The launch date of the show has not yet been announced.

     

    &TV

     

    Zee Entertainment Enterprises’ &TV will be churning out as many as three new shows across different genres. Foraying in the horror genre, the channel will be launching a mini-series called Dar Sabko Lagta Hai, which will be anchored by Bipasha Basu. Exploring other genres, &TV is soon also planning to launch its first mythological series called Santoshi Maa. The show’s teaser promo is already on air. On the other hand, a fiction titled Yeh Kaha Gaye Hum, produced by Balaji Telefilms, will be going on air from 26 October.

     

    With genres ranging from horror to mythology, reality to drama, comedy to romance, there’s a liberal dose of everything for everyone on Hindi GECs this festive season.

  • Tata Sky looks to up VAS, VOD revenue; partners Suniel Shetty for fitness service

    Tata Sky looks to up VAS, VOD revenue; partners Suniel Shetty for fitness service

    MUMBAI: Eyeing a larger share of revenue from the Value Added Service (VAS) and VOD (Video on Demand) pie, direct-to-home (DTH) operator Tata Sky has partnered with Suniel Shetty and Adarsh Gupta’s lifestyle and health initiative Brilliant Living TV to launch a fitness-based interactive service – ‘Actve Fitness.’

     

    The new service will allow subscribers to get access to fitness trainers and wellness experts 24×7 at the cost of Rs 59 per month.

     

    The DTH operator recently added ‘Actve Fitness’ to their bouquet of VAS. While on-air fitness programs have been tried many times on TV, this is the first time a DTH player in India has introduced an on demand fitness solution for its customers.

     

    The new service was unveiled by Salman Khan, who also explained the advantages of Actve Fitness from a fitness enthusiast’s perspective.

     

    Tata Sky chief commercial officer Pallavi Puri says, “In line with our attempt to keep innovating the VAS section, we are constantly researching. Our research showed that our users are very health conscious. They want to look fit and live a healthy lifestyle. But not everyone has the access to gyms, fitness equipments or proper trainers. Even if they have access to such facilities, availability of convenient time becomes an issue for many who lead a busy life. I would say this service is a smarter and personalised way to take control of one’s health from the comfort of your homes.”

     

    Effective 5 October, Tata Sky subscribers will be given a ‘missed call number’ that will lead them to activate this new service. Interested users can also send SMS requests, or  log in to the DTH player’s website, or subscribe to the service through their television sets. Puri expects the service to appeal to their customer base from all demographies.

     

    Apart from creating a buzz by inviting Khan for the launch, Tata Sky has also put in place a marketing strategy for the new service. “We are targeting communication towards our customers through our landing channel No 100, which will showcase advertisements informing viewers about the new service. We are also looking digital promos, and tele-calling as ways to promote the service among our customers,” explains Puri.

     

    Puri further adds that having Brilliant Living TV as a partner broadened their scope and quality of the content they can offer through the service. “Brilliant Living TV is delighted to be associated with Tata Sky to bring Actve Fitness to Indian homes. Our focus has been on creating passion and excitement for fitness amongst all Indians by guiding them through fitness exercises such as work-out videos, yoga and meditation. Now for the first time these services will be available to viewers at home through a DTH platform,” said Brilliant Living TV founder Adarsh Gupta.

     

    Available in both Hindi and English, the content for the service has been curated by Brilliant Living TV, with Suniel Shetty being an active part of it. “With the inception of Brilliant Living TV, we could gather industry experts under one roof and with the help of Tata Sky Actve Fitness we are able to reach out to the mass. Continuing my effort, I am looking forward to a healthy India in the near future,” says Shetty.

     

    Shetty has roped in celebrity fitness trainers like Yasmin Karachiwala, Kaizzad Capadia, Abbas Ali and Grand Master Shifuji amongst others for Actve Fitness. Each of them have shared workout and yoga sessions, self-defence and celebrity fitness tips that anyone can follow at home, without the need of any professional equipment. The interactive service also lets one set a Weight Tracker and check the Calorie Counter for the kind of food they consume. 

     

    Each day of the week will focus on a different body part for exercising, with Monday dedicated to full body workout. Apart from that, the service also offers half hour modules for the subscribers, who can choose from a category of wellness regimes to customise according to their needs.

     

    Specials include different schools of yoga such as Ashtang yoga, Vinyasa Yoga, Hatha yoga; meditation, work outs like a kickboxing, fusion martial arts, and more. They also offer women’s special fitness trainings that cover self-defence, dance workout and event pre-natal yoga.