ITV

Tag: Sony Entertainment Television

  • “In next 3 months, we will launch female skewed shows”: NP Singh

    “In next 3 months, we will launch female skewed shows”: NP Singh

    MUMBAI: Sony Entertainment Television (SET), the Hindi general entertainment channel (GEC) from the Multi Screen Media (MSM) stable has for long been perceived as a male skewed channel, but no longer. The channel is working on a content strategy, which will change the perception of the channel, and all this over the next three months.

     

    “A lot of our recent shows were clearly launched keeping the female audiences in mind, but it was perceived to be male centric. In the next three months, we will be launching shows, which will be focused on female audiences,” MSM CEO NP Singh tells Indiantelevision.com.

     

    It can be noted that MSM’s third GEC Sony Pal, which launched in September 2014, is currently airing repeats from Sony and Sab. The strategy has helped the channel double its viewership. So is Sony looking at reviving its old content strategy in order to improve its viewership numbers? Informs Singh, “While we have always tried making content, which is inclusive, there have been a few shows that are more male skewed. Our objective is to get more women on our channel and therefore the new lineup will have a greater appeal to female audiences, to achieve balance between male and female viewers.”

     

    Sony towards the end of June will launch Suryaputra Karn, which according to Singh will see greater traction from female audiences. “The story of Karan has never been shown on TV as a standalone and has always been a part of Mahabharat. I am sure that it will do well,” opined Singh.

     

    Of the current programming lineup, shows, which have been doing well for the channel are Maharana Pratap, Itna Karo Na Mujhse Pyaar, Hanuman, Indian Idol Junior, CID and Aahat.

     

    Sony Pal: Content Strategy

     

    The channel, which currently is airing old shows from Sony and Sab will continue with its strategy. “We will continue with it till we reach a threshold where we believe that the channel can start introducing original content. Our objective of launching the channel was to appeal to audiences in the heartland and to some degree, Pal has been able to achieve that and we are reaching out to those audiences. With the repeats of shows from Sony and Sab, we have been able to actually double our viewership on the channel. We will proceed with that strategy for some more time and then bring in original content for the channel,” says Singh.

     

    MSM and Sports

     

    The network, which currently has few of the biggest sports properties including FIFA World Cup and Indian Premiere League (IPL), apart from National Basketball Association (NBA) is looking at acquiring a lot of other new sports properties. “The announcement will be made in a couple of months,” informs Singh.

     

    When asked which sporting properties the network was looking at, Singh said, “Football is becoming very popular with the youth today, which is what we are focusing on. But, apart from that, we are also focusing on the other properties.”

     

    Talking about the just concluded IPL season eight, Singh said that the property had seen a 20 per cent plus jump in revenue as compared to season six. “We cannot really compare season seven and eight, since the last season was unique as it came in the midst of the general elections. But if we compare season six and eight, the growth has been encouraging,” he informs.

     

    While the network aired this season of IPL in six different languages, it did not sell the property separately for different language feed. “We will continue airing IPL in different languages in the future seasons, but in terms of sales, we will see if we can sell some languages separately than Hindi,” he said.

     

    The highest viewership for the league came from Sony Max, followed by Sony Six. “Within IPL, High Definition (HD) has done well as we saw growth in both revenues and viewership. There is demand for HD content in the market,” opines Singh.

     

    It can be recalled that the network launched a new channel, Sony Kix, right before IPL kick started. Throwing light on the channel Singh said, “In the past three years, MSM has aggregated a lot of sports content, which we showcased on Sony Six and in some cases on Pix. With Kix coming in, it gives us the flexibility of multiple language feeds and that’s what we did with IPL. It also gives us another platform on which we can actually showcase content, which erstwhile were sitting on other channels of the network,” he points out.

  • Canada’s ATN bags telecast rights for India – Bangladesh cricket series

    Canada’s ATN bags telecast rights for India – Bangladesh cricket series

    MUMBAI: Canada’s South Asian broadcaster Asian Television Network International Limited (ATN) has acquired the exclusive broadcast rights for India vs Bangladesh Bilateral Cricket series, which is being held in Bangladesh.

     

    India’s tour of Bangladesh, which starts today (10 June, 2015) features one Test match and three One Day Internationals (ODI). The last Test between both countries was played in 2010.

     

    The series will air live on CBN & ATN Cricket Plus.

     

    ATN serves Canada’s diverse cultural communities with 54 specialty television channels. ATN has programming alliances with broadcasters like Doordarshan, Star Network, Sony Entertainment Television, Viacom, Times Television Network, B4U Network, NDTV and Disney amongst others.

  • Sony Pal: Where original shows failed; old shows did the turnaround

    Sony Pal: Where original shows failed; old shows did the turnaround

    MUMBAI: It started off with an aim to target those whose hands controlled the small black device that runs the idiot box. In its bid to win over women, Multi Screen Media (MSM) made a move by launching a third GEC – Sony Pal, under its bouquet to scale up its popularity amongst the core general entertainment TV audience.

     

    However, MSM’s six-month-old off spring did not see its vision being fulfilled for long. In February this year, the channel canned its quota of original shows. The reason was the failure of a few of its shows to connect with the heart of its target audience.

     

    Interestingly, what followed post the closure of the original content went unnoticed. When Pal decided to do away with its new shows, MSM made a smart move by revamping the channel with some of the best shows from its other channels like Sony Entertainment Television (SET) and Sab to keep the flanking channel alive.

     

    If one were to connect the dots here, it can be noted that the channel had sent notices to the producers working on the channel to stop shooting from 13 February this year. Post that, Pal had a different story to tell.

     

    When Indiantelevision.com scanned through the ratings of the channel pre and post the ‘so-called’ revamp, it was noted that before the revamp, on an average the channel recorded 25-30 million GVTs. Post the revamp; in the week 8 of TAM TV ratings (15 – 21 February, 2015), it generated 39 million GVTs.

     

    Courtesy of shows like Bade Achhe Lagte Hain, Saas Bina Sasural, Parvarrish – Kuchh Khattee Kuchh Meethi, Kuch Toh Log Kahenge, FIR and Comedy Circus Jubilee amongst others. Since then, the channel has been consistently delivering numbers between 45-49 million GVTs on an average.

     

    A media planner believes that the move made by the network was an interesting one. “Pal decided to get those shows onto the channel, which worked for Sony and Sab, further bringing in the visibility for those shows. These programmes were once the shining stars for the respective channels until other big channel’s different concepts came into picture, which worked. These series were loved by the audiences and somehow the content still relates to the core TG and is thus still being able to deliver decent numbers despite being a repeat,” the executive opines.

     

    Another media expert asserts, “Once upon a time, Sony had a strong base of loyal viewers who enjoyed watching shows, which had a powerful storyline and Pal decided to get those programmes on-board. With this move, the old viewers have switched back again to Pal, who otherwise don’t go on the main GEC, SET for their own reasons. Sony’s experiments with differentiated content have not paid off so far and we hope when Pal revamps, it keeps its core TG’s expectations in mind.”

     

    What failed?

     

    Launched with a tagline – ‘Yeh Pal Hamara Hai,’ it targeted the ‘traditional, yet modern’ Indian woman.

     

    A media analyst explains that Pal had positioned itself incorrectly. “If the channel claims that it targets the housewives, it should have experimented in the afternoon slots. This would have given Pal many reasons to rejoice. Firstly, visibility, secondly, it would have been the only channel in the GEC space running original content in the afternoon slot and thirdly, good advertisers also would have come in who otherwise don’t have options to put in bucks apart from prime-time and other demanding slots.”

     

    The analyst further goes on to say that in the initial six months, Pal should have seen the response from the audiences and then build up its prime-time slots.

     

    It can be further noted that, even though MSM is trying to target the GEC audience that has been addressed by other Hindi channels so far, the brief for Pal’s programming was decidedly different. The content was designed in a way to be different from what a GEC usually portrays, sans villains.

     

    The channel had also signed up a brand ambassador in keeping with the theme – actor and co-owner of Indian Premier League franchise, Kolkata Knight Riders, Juhi Chawla, who was involved in promoting the channel through appearances in activations and on television.

     

    Apart from launching shows in the prime-time slot and weekend offerings, Pal had got on-board Raveena Tandon for a talk show and a game show with only women as participants.

     

    The channel had series like Simply Baatein produced by GR8 Entertainment and anchored by Raveena Tandon, Dil Hain Chotasa Choti Si Asha, produced by SOL Productions and hosted by Ragini Khanna and Jay Soni, Shashi Productions’ Ek Rishta Aisa Bhi, Miloni Films’ Khushiyon Ki Gullakh Aashi¸ Singhasan Battisi by Creative Eye, Pia Basanti Re by Rashmi Sharma and Pawan Kumar, Tum Sath Ho Jab Apne produced by Sphere Origins, Sister Didi by DJ’s Creative Unit and Yeh Dil Sun Raha Hain by Balaji Telefilms.

     

    Sony Pal’s highest rated programme was Sinhasan Battisi that rated 190 TVTs in its opening week. Ek Rishta Aisa Bhi with 103 TVTs followed behind.

     

    If one were to observe Pal’s viewership ratings, its run so far has been comparable to Zee Entertainment Enterprises Limited’s (Zeel’s) Zindagi, which was launched in June last year. However, while Zeel positioned it as a mass premium channel, Pal was positioned as a mainstream GEC. Both the channels recorded 25-30 million viewers per week.

     

    Pal now features in the genre which has archive content and is thus competing with Zee’s Zee Anmol, Star India’s Star Utsav and Colors’ Rishtey. The ratings of these channels vary anywhere between 60 to 80 million over a week.

     

    A step back

     

    Shutting six months old operations definitely requires courage, especially after a substantial amount of investment was pumped into it.

     

    According to an industry source, the investment in the channel could be anywhere close to Rs 90 – 110 crore, including marketing spends. Ad rates for a 10-sec slot were estimated to be approximately Rs 10,000 to Rs 15,000.

     

    It can be recalled that Sony Pal and Sab senior EVP and business head Anooj Kapoor had earlier said that one of the reasons for the failure of Pal was lack of proper distribution strategy. The channel was not optimally present everywhere at the time of launch, which obviously affected the initial sampling. The fact that, in the digital space, the channel was about 15 LCNs (local channel numbers) away from the leading Hindi GECs made it worse. For the audiences to locate, sample and actually break a habit of viewing other shows was an uphill task.

     

    For a better distribution, Kapoor had stated that the network would plug in the learnings from the core TG when it brought in fresh programming. Moreover, if the channel has already hit a certain threshold, then the investment will also be poured, as that is required to plug in the distribution gaps.

     

    With all the given circumstances, namely incorrect positioning, content not up to the mark and minimal distribution working against the channel, the industry thought it would not survive for long. However, all speculations came to rest when Kapoor issued a statement revealing that the channel will be back with a better plan and content strategy.

     

    “Sony Pal was launched five months ago subsequent to which the channel carried out extensive research. Basis the research, the channel is in the process of realigning its content strategy. Sony Pal has achieved extensive distribution as a pay channel and will continue to be an important asset for the MSM Network,” read the press statement.

     

    Until the time that the channel is back with a fresh line-up of shows, MSM had come up with a strategy to put Pal on Prasar Bharati’s free-to-air (FTA) digital platform DD Freedish.

     

    Moreover, it had added shows from SET and Sab on Pal to attract audiences from the Freedish market. Kapoor earlier stated that the idea on Pal was to get a certain threshold level of ingredients and get in fresh and original programming again.

     

    It can be noted that, in the repeat format today, Star Utsav from the Star India stable, gets 67 per cent of its ratings from Freedish and Kapoor’s understanding was that if Pal wants to reach anywhere near to those figures, it had to get onboard Freedish.

     

    Now it remains to be seen how the upcoming revamp strategy helps to build the channel.

  • Sony re-jigs weekend programming for ‘Indian Idol Junior’

    Sony re-jigs weekend programming for ‘Indian Idol Junior’

    MUMBAI: While it may not have found favour with audiences on its fiction fare recently, Sony Entertainment Television is all set to enthrall audiences with the second season of its popular singing reality show format – Indian Idol Junior.

    The show, which will launch on 30 May, will be aired at 8.30 pm on weekends. With this, Adaalat, which was aired from 8 – 9 pm on Sony, will now get a new time slot and will be aired from 7.30 – 8.30 pm. Additionally, Bhanwar, which aired at 9 pm will be taken off air. The show’s last episode will be on 24 May.

     

    Indian Idol Junior, this time round, will see the juniors paying a tribute to the maestros of Indian music at the season’s grand launch. With the success of the first season, Sony Entertainment Television is upbeat about giving talented youngsters this platform to exhibit their talent yet again.

     

    What’s more, the talent quotient for this season has gone several notches higher with the inclusion of actor Sonakshi Sinha as one of the judges.

     

    Speaking to Indiantelevision.com at the launch of the show, Sony Entrainment Television senior executive vice president and business head Nachiket Pantvaidya said, “The unique thing about this show is that for the first time ever, we are using a celebrity i.e. Sonakshi Sinha as a representative of the common people. You normally find that the judges are experts in their own fields but with Sonakshi, we want to explore the connect further.”

     

    “With the second edition of Indian Idol Junior, we intend to bring the entire family together and recreate the entertainment quotient of this season substantially while gifting the music industry with some really outstanding talent,” Pantvaidya added.

     

    Sharing insights on her television debut, Sinha said, “Playback singing is unique to Indian cinema. For our films, music is as essential an entity as the story. With every era of movies, there has come a whole generation of musicians who have almost immortalized some movies through the music. I’m really excited and happy to be associated with Indian Idol Junior, a reality show that celebrates music and creates platform for young talent to follow their dreams and reach out to the stars.”

     

    Sony Entertainment Television chief creative officer Ajay Bhalwankar added, “The whole selection process, auditions, theatre took about a year. The gala rounds episodes will go on for fourteen weeks and will have the normal voting system like previous formats.”

     

    Fremantle Media India managing director Anupama Mandloi said, “It’s always been nice to work with this format. We have been doing it for years now and this time it’s special because we found talent across the country – north, south, east and west.  Also in time to come, you will see what surprises this season will bring.”

     

    Sony has brought on board three sponsors for the second season of Indian Idol Junior. While Horlicks is the ‘presenting’ sponsor, Lifebuoy and Aquaguard have associated with the show as ‘co-powered by’ sponsors.

     

    Apart from Sinha, the show will have judges like Vishal Dadlani, Salim Merchant and Shalmali Kholgade. It will be hosted by Hussain Kuwajerwala and Asha Negi.

  • Home Ministry asks for updated directors list of downlinked TV channels to enable 10 year renewal

    Home Ministry asks for updated directors list of downlinked TV channels to enable 10 year renewal

    NEW DELHI: The Home Ministry has asked all television channels and those managing teleports, whose downlinking permissions have expired after five years or is in the process of expiring by December this year, to furnish details afresh about their Board of Directors and key executives.

    As per a notice on the website of the Information and Broadcasting Ministry, the required information has to be filed by 10 May for the channels and teleports to apply for extension of their permissions.

    The website lists 60 TV channels whose downlinking permission is over and six channels whose permission is expiring this year.

    Channels whose permissions have expired include Sony Entertainment Television and its related channels, Zee Trends, B4U movies, BBC World, Bloomberg, DW TV, TV 5 Monde, various channels of the Discovery group, channels of Star Sports, channels of Nat Geo, AXN, NHK World, Ten Sports, Disney, CNN, Pogo, HBO, WB, Zee Café and Zee Studio.

    The six whose downlinking permissions are expiring include Al Jazeera, France 24, ESP News and Grenada TV.

    Asked why the period mentioned was five years and not ten as already stipulated, I&B secretary Bimal Julka told Indiantelevision.com that the period of licence was five years until 2011 but has since been increased to ten years. Thus, all these applicants will get renewals for ten years.

    He also said that the period had been ten years for those who uplinked and downlinked, and the aim of the 2011 change was to make the downlinking permission co-terminus with the licence period. Thus, all renewals will be for ten years.

    Julka also said that the Home Ministry had assured him that cases held up for security clearances as far as multi-system operators (MSOs) were concerned would be speeded up as the officials were until now tied up with the Nepal rescue work.

  • Sony to premiere ‘Sankat Mochan Mahabali Hanumaan’ on Sony Liv app and web

    Sony to premiere ‘Sankat Mochan Mahabali Hanumaan’ on Sony Liv app and web

    MUMBAI: “Digital is the future.” While one has been hearing this on various occasions over the years, it’s only recently that the Indian television industry has started thinking digital.

     

    What started with sports channels putting content on the digital platform has now moved to the Hindi general entertainment channels (GECs) as well.  The genre which so far was looking at targeting mostly housewives is now going young, thus making presence on digital even more important.

     

    Taking cue from that, Sony Entertainment Television (SET) is premiering its upcoming mythological show Sankat Mochan Mahabali Hanumaan on Sony Liv mobile app at 12 noon on 4 May, way before its on-air telecast at 8 pm.

     

    The show will present the tale of the mightiest God – Hanumaan from the perspective of Lord Krishna. Born to God Kesari and Anjani Devi, Hanumaan is considered to be the greatest devotee ever born on earth. The show will take viewers on a journey of his beautiful and eventful life right from his childhood from being a devotee of Lord Ram to being the vanquisher of all evil.  It will also bring out his qualities and derive morals from his life which are relevant in everyday life. With extremely advanced VFX, the show promises a never-seen-before visual experience.

     

    Sony Liv is aimed at providing entertainment on the go for young India on the move and this new step further reinstates this brand promise. The video on demand (VOD) service has been consistently bringing marquee shows from Sony’s stable to its viewers on devices that they could access anywhere, anytime, including shows like KBC, Indian Idol etc.

     

    Sony Entertainment EVP and digital head Uday Sodhi said, “Sony Liv mobile app is one of the leading entertainment app and it is featured amongst the top apps in the app world. The show offers a perfect blend of untold and popular mythology around Lord Hanumaan in a never seen before format, state-of-the art special effects, immersive visuals and stellar acts and performances. The show will present the tale of the mightiest God from his childhood, in a whole new way.”

     

    Sony Entertainment Television senior vice president marketing Gaurav Seth added, “Our marketing innovations and promos have already created a lot of buzz for the show. Besides the web premiere, the show has also seen some unique digital innovations like live streaming of the Grand Press Conference held at Kingdom of Dreams and an auction of Mahabali Hanumaan’s Gada! Looking at the excitement over the internet and social media, we have decided to bring forward the launch and give netizens an exclusive preview of our most awaited show.”

  • Sony’s ‘Maharana Pratap’ completes 400 episodes

    Sony’s ‘Maharana Pratap’ completes 400 episodes

    MUMBAI: Sony Entertainment Television’s (SET) historical show Bharat Ka Veer Putra Maharana Pratap recently completed a milestone of 400 episodes.

     

    Contiloe Telefilms producer Abhimanyu Singh said, “Maharana Pratap is one of our landmark shows. Leap will showcase the siege of Chittor, which is a sad chapter in our history. However it reflects the true spirit of our freedom fighters who did not lose hope in such adversity and showed great courage and bravado. We are going to take the help of VFX to show this conflict and give it the required scale. We are introducing new and well known characters in the show. It will be interesting for the audience to watch another episode of history unfold.”

     

    SET chief creative officer Ajay Bhalwankar added, “It is a really good feeling that our show completed a milestone of 400 episodes. It is a joyous moment for all of us associated with this show. We wish that the show completes many such episodes and keeps entertaining everyone.”

     

    Actress Rachana Parulkar, who essays the role of Ajabde in the show, said, “I am overwhelmed with the response of the viewers’ towards the show. It is a moment of pride to see our show complete glories 400 episode. We promise to live up to the expectation of the audience by giving our best performance.”

  • Colors clinches IIFA Awards from Star

    Colors clinches IIFA Awards from Star

    MUMBAI: The six-year old baby, Colors is on a winning spree. The channel, which snatched Stardust Awards from Sony Entertainment Television (SET) in 2014, has now acquired the television rights to International Indian Film Academy (IIFA) Awards from Star Plus, after 15 years.

     

    With this acquisition, Colors now has both, an Indian and international award show, in its kitty.

     

    The channel has partnered with Wizcraft International Entertainment to acquire complete broadcast rights of the show, which will be held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia from 5-7 June, 2015. 

     

    Colors will collaborate with IIFA to combine programming and marketing efforts to mount this year’s IIFA on a wider canvas reaching out to more viewers around 135 countries across all screens – TV, mobile and PC.

     

    Colors CEO Raj Nayak said, “Over the years, the IIFA Awards has become a global cultural phenomenon that has put Indian cinema on the global radar and we are proud to be associated with it. With the inclusion of IIFA Awards to our bouquet of offerings, Colors will now curate exceptional entertainment offerings capturing best of Indian film industry. IIFA Weekend will be beamed not only on Colors India but also on our international feeds including Rishtey bringing quality entertainment to our viewers’ fingertips.”

     

    Elaborating on this year’s IIFA Awards, Wizcraft International Entertainment director Sabbas Joseph said, “Since its inception, the concept of IIFA has evolved from becoming an awards evening to a weekend of festivities where the entire film fraternity comes together to celebrate the excellence of Indian cinema. This year, Videocon d2h IIFA Weekend includes events, which recognise the talent that is responsible for the grandeur and technical expertise making Indian films more relatable globally. Our association with the channel or the IIFA Weekend and Awards furthers our promise of providing the best entertainment avenues to viewers across the globe.”

     

    Recently, the awards announced the list of nominations with 2 States leading the list with a total of nine nominations. National award winning film Haider got eight nominations, while Rajkumar Hirani’s PK, which did wonders at the box office, garnered six nominations. Kangana Ranaut’s Queen has managed to garner five nominations in the popular categories.

     

    With events like IIFA Rocks, Magic of the Movies, IIFA World Premiere and the IIFA Awards, the weekend celebrates various elements such as fashion, music and world-class acting that make watching Indian films a truly magical experience.

  • Sony on correction course; set to launch 4 new shows

    Sony on correction course; set to launch 4 new shows

    MUMBAI: 2014 was a middling year for Sony Entertainment Television (SET). Though the audience saw the channel experimenting with new concepts and shows, a few earned some fame, while the others failed to grab eyeballs.

    SET made some smart moves, whether it was getting out of the studio and moving closer to the audiences in season eight of Kaun Banega Crorepati or Amitabh Bachchan’s television debut in the fiction format – Yudh, which was touted to be India’s most expensive show in that segment (Rs 3 crore per episode). While the channel’s hopes were riding high on the latter, the dark content was unpalatable for the audience.

    On the fiction soap front, the channel’s high bet with Itna Karo Na Mujhe Pyaar starring Ronit Roy did not do as well as expected. Other fiction series like Humsafars, Hum Hai Na and Tum Aise Hi Rehna only saw a glimmer of hope.

    Reason: Female audiences didn’t stick on and male audiences continued to come on to the channel’s popular shows like CID, Aahat, Crime Patrol and Bhanwar.

    However, now the channel is on a correction course and is all set to woo its existing audiences once again as well as rope in new viewers. SET SVP and business head Nachiket Pantvaidya revealed that in order to up the channel’s entertainment quotient, five new shows will go on air over the next two – three months.

    Not just to intrigue the audience but to also provoke thought and reactions from them, the channel aims to attract newer audiences (mainly female) with high-concept shows backed by a powerful star cast.

    First up, starting 13 April, the channel will launch Reporters, revealing the challenging world of news in a contemporary way. As reported earlier by Indiantelevision.com, the show, produced by Rose Audio Visuals, revolves around the life of journalists with an intense underlying love story.

    It will air every Monday-Thursday at 9 pm competing with shows like Diya Aur Baati Hum (Star Plus), Chakravartin Ashoka Samrat (Colors), Laut Aao Trisha (Life OK), Chidiya Ghar (Sab) and Kumkum Bhagya (Zee TV).

    Second up, the channel kicked-off auditions for its singing reality show, Indian Idol Junior 2 in Kolkata on 4 April. After Kolkata, the audition process will move to Delhi, Chandigarh and Mumbai on 11 April, 18 April and 25 April respectively. The show is expected to go live in the month of May.

    The third new show from SET’s stable is the mythological show titled Sankat Mochan Mahabali Hanuman. Produced by Contiloe Productions, it will depict the life of Lord Hanuman. The series is set to hit television screens from 4 May. For the record, Contiloe Pictures is currently producing Maharana Pratap, Adaalat and Bhanwar on Sony.

    With growing popularity of the mythological genre, Sony will add yet another show to its kitty titled Suryaputra Karn. The show is produced by Swastik Pictures, which had also produced Mahabharat for Star Plus.

    Suryaputra Karn will cover life journey of the Great Archer of Indian history Karna, who always craved for legitimacy, had been extremely loyal to his friend and the only one who could defeat Arjun. The promos for the same have already created a buzz. Sources close to the channel say that the show will hit airwaves in May.

    Last but not the least, the channel is set to further awaken the masses with period drama called Rani Mahal. Produced by Lost Boy Productions, it stars Sakshi Tanwar in a leading role and will hit television screens in June.

    Rubbishing media reports of it being a remake of Game Of Thrones, producer Vikas Gupta said, “This is nowhere close to Game of Thrones.”

    It may be recalled that as its first step towards a revamped programming strategy, Sony launched the Ram Kapoor starrer Dil Ki Baatein on 23 March, which is telecast from Monday to Thursday at 9:30 pm.

    It remains to be seen whether Sony’s fresh line-up of shows manages to propel the channel up on the ratings chart.

  • Sony set to explore the media world with new show – ‘Reporters’

    Sony set to explore the media world with new show – ‘Reporters’

    MUMBAI: Breaking News! A common phrase that is flashed almost on all screens everyday – from news channels to websites. Now Sony Entertainment Television (SET) has picked it up as a ‘concept’ for its new entertainment show.

     

    While internationally, the backdrop of journalism has been seen in shows like The Newsroom starring Jeff Daniels, Dirt and The West Wings, amongst others; in India the concept was untapped until now.

     

    The Hindi general entertainment channel (GEC) from Multi Screen Media’s stable is all set to explore the world of media with its new show – Reporters. A love story that will make breaking news is set to hit the television screens from 13 April at 9 pm. The channel has roped in Frooti as the presenting sponsor for the show.

     

    Produced by Rose Audio Visuals’ Srishti Arya, it will reveal the challenging world of news in a contemporary way. Set against a backdrop of a media house, it follows the journey of seasoned and respected journalist Kabir Sharma (Rajeev Khandelwal) and a budding reporter Ananya Kashyap (Kritika Kamra). The show is a story of these two strong and conflicting individuals, who are destined to be together.

     

    SET SVP and marketing head Gaurav Seth believes that today the country’s perceptions, opinions and decisions are shaped by the world of television news and it is this world, which forms the setting of the channel’s new show.

     

    According to Seth, there are two kinds of stories that work on television – love stories inside the house and outside. One such show that had a love story setting in a fashion house was Jassi Jaisi Koi Nahi.

     

    “A show’s backdrop and context needs to change after sometime as it tends to lose the novelty factor. It is important for us to keep evolving the medium, stories, characters and that’s where this new show comes in,” he said.

     

    Behind the scenes

    From visiting news channels to having in-depth conversations with journalists from the news medium, the actors have done it all. The actors met veteran journalist Rajdeep Sardesai to know how a newsroom functions.

     

    Moreover, the production house also did research in the matter in terms of how news is created, what the first point of connection to the last point of delivery and the process followed amongst other things.

     

    The production house did its R&D by seeking help from a senior journalist and made sure that the procedures that were being followed were on the right track.

     

    “The journalist we worked with said that many a times a news channel’s agenda and point of view may differ from that of its journalist. We have to be able to identify with the crisis of the character. Unless we don’t feel the need to take a side or stand, we are not going engage with the character. It is fascinating to see how news is created,” explains Arya.

     

    Seth further points that people, who are from the news medium, will relate to it. “This is factual and not made up just for the sake of it. However, at the same time you have to take creative liberties because at the end of the day, it is a story,” he said.

     

    Agreeing on the same, Arya asserts, “I would not say it is 100 per cent authentic because then it might not necessarily be engaging. We have tried to stay with the systems that a news channel follow.”

     

    The channel has canned five episodes till now and the show is designed for a finite run with 120 episodes. Seth feels that one has to tell the story in a limited time period that is available. “You can’t just keep on extending the show. If a story holds for 2000 episodes, by all means we can go for it but if it is conceptualised for a 100 episode pattern and then if you move it to 300, you will end up stretching the story,” he opined.

     

    Having started his career as a journalist with the newspaper called Mahanagar, SET chief creative director Ajay Bhalwankar has lived this life closely. “I believe that there are lots of interesting stories to tell. Today individual reporters are known, unlike during my time. When I began my career as a reporter, a press conference would see maximum eight to ten journalists with notepads. There was not a single camera present. Today, there are more cameras, so times have evolved and so has the profession. However, not many people know what happens inside and we thought that will create a great amount of curiosity for people.”

     

    Marketing buzz

     

    This time round, the channel has decided to push its marketing efforts on the digital medium to get the maximum bang for its buck.

     

    The first promo of Reporters grabbed one million views in less than a week. The channel ensured that the promo was interesting enough to create a splash. “It has been absolutely remarkable that people have noticed it. It’s been trending on Twitter regularly and we have managed to build a lot of anticipation for the show,” Seth said.

     

    Additionally, the channel has created a LinkedIn account for Khandelwal, where he is going to invite people to interview for jobs inside his network.