Post Swayamvar, Imagine launches Pati Patni Aur Woh

NDTV Imagine has some good reason to smile. In the Hindi general entertainment channel (GEC) space, the final episode of its marriage-based reality show, called Rakhi Ka Swayamvar, clocked in ratings of 8.4 TRPs on August 2, 2009. This is the highest score for a non-fiction show till now in 2009.

To maintain the performance consistency of the channel via the Rakhi factor, the channel is coming up with yet another show centered around marriage theme. Rakhi Sawant and her ‘official husband’ Elesh Parujanwala are getting ready to take their relationship to the next level, by playing parents on a new reality show, called Pati Patni Aur Woh.

Pati Patni Aur Woh is being launched after Rakhi Ka Swayamvar. Nikhil Madhok, vice-president, marketing, NDTV Imagine, explains that in the GEC space, its the innovation that has gone up drastically to maintain the lead position.

Madhok says, “Some time back, there were two-three shows being launched annually and these shows were being replaced after a long period. Now every other month, there is a new launch as channels have at least six-seven new shows lined up for a year.”

Meanwhile, Rakhi has even decided on a name for her child. “I will call her Khushi,” she says. When asked about the concept behind the show, she says, “I don’t know. All I know is that I am going in a house just to have a picnic for one month.”

Rakhi and Elesh will be joined by four other celebrity couples – Shilpa Saklani and Apurva Agnihotri; Juhi Parmar and Sachin Shroff; Mouni Roy and Gaurav Chopra; and Debina Bonnerjee and Gurmeet Chaudhary.

The show’s format is borrowed from The Baby Borrowers (BBC Worldwide Productions), in which five couples, aged 16 to 19, start off by attempting to look after a baby for three days, before moving onto toddlers, preteens, teenagers and finally an elderly person.

In the Indian version, the couples will spend an entire month in a closed environment, monitored by cameras all the time, which will also capture their journey as they embark on a new life of discovery as first-time parents.

DD starts Golden Anniversary celebrations with Rahman concert

Doordarshan (DD) will complete 50 years of transmission in September this year. Ambika Soni, the Information and Broadcasting Minister has flagged off the occasion by a curtain-raiser concert – ‘AR Rahman Unplugged’, which was a collaboration between DD and Phat Phish India.

In the concert, Rahman performed some of his compositions along with singers like Hariharan, Kailash Kher and Sadhana Sargam. Sivamani was also a part of this enthralling evening.

Aruna Sharma, director general, DD, says, “The show has all the hallmarks that one would associate with the musical genius – a delightful infusion of music, creativity, passion and individuality to mark this historic occasion of turning 50.”

From humble beginnings in 1959, when DD started with experimental telecast using a small transmitter and a makeshift studio, DD today operates more than 30 channels across India and an international channel abroad.

DD will soon commence HDTV transmissions on an experimental basis, followed by a commercial rollout, in time for the Commonwealth Games to be held in Delhi in 2010. Thus, Indian television viewers will be able to watch the Commonwealth Games on HDTV ready televisions.

KR Harish, managing director, Phat Phish India, says, “We are happy to work with DD and bring in content that will not only kick start the golden jubilee celebration, but also usher in programming of scale richness that will start a new era on DD.”

DD’s year-long anniversary celebrations will mark a series of events across all centres, which will culminate with the 2010 Commonwealth Games next year.

Discovery Networks to launch three new channels in India

Discovery Networks Asia-Pacific will launch three new 24-hour channels in India – Discovery Science, Discovery Turbo and Discovery HD. Permission for the new channels was granted by the Information and Broadcasting Ministry on August 12, 2009.

Rahul Johri, senior vice-president and general manager – India, Discovery Networks Asia-Pacific, said, “In the current environment, networks that have a distinct brand proposition will emerge as the preferred destinations for viewers, advertisers and affiliates alike.”

Johri adds, “The changing market dynamics, favourable demographics, and research, suggest that millions of viewers in India would enjoy Discovery Science, Discovery Turbo and Discovery HD’s unique and high-quality programme offering.”

The company plans to launch Discovery Science and Discovery Turbo on both analog and digital platforms, while Discovery HD will be launched only on the digital platform. All three channels are available in English.

The new launches increase the breadth of Discovery’s television offering in India to six channels. Currently, Discovery broadcasts Discovery Channel, Discovery Travel & Living and Animal Planet.

Discovery Science is dedicated to making science programming accessible, relevant and entertaining. The channel’s programming genres will include exploration, cutting-edge discoveries, medical research, astronomy, space, genetics and human body.

Discovery Turbo is a new network offering entertaining and inspiring programming for people who love the adrenaline rush of all things motored. Its programming will include events (car, boat, bike shows), celebrity motorist profiles (Formula One, NASCAR), DIY, motoring trends and fashion.

Discovery HD is the only global high-definition television network offering factual and lifestyle entertainment. It brings audiences closer to their world, featuring programming on the wonders of the world including world culture, science, wildlife, natural history, travel and lifestyle.

Rakhi’s Swayamvar is India’s most watched TV show

Rakhi Sawant, the outspoken, wannabe-bride on NDTV Imagine has not only managed to select her groom on television, but has also achieved in garnering the maximum ratings for any reality show in last two years.

As per Tam data, the grand finale of Rakhi Ka Swayamvar Faisle Ki Raat, which was aired live on 2 August from 9-11.30 pm, fetched a whopping TVR of 8.4 for the channel.

The viewers remained captivated by Rakhi and her tantrums to make the finale the top rated show among the Hindi GECs (general entertainment channels) during the week. It also helped the channel to notch a total of 141 GRPs in the week ended 2 August.

Rakhi Ka Swayamvar had been into controversies from the very beginning. While on one hand, there was Rakhi selecting and rejecting perspective contestants as per her whims and fancies, there were news channels on the other hand trying to create scoops out of the show.

It is pertinent to note here that News24 conducted a sting operation, saying that the show was rigged, ultimately helping the property to garner more eyeballs.

Rakhi Ka Swayamvar that hit the television screen on 29 June witnessed the best non-fiction opening with a TVR of 4.1, till Sach Ka Saamna launched on Star Plus. But the show did what it was created for. It gave NDTV Imagine a major upward push. The channel which was hovering around the 100 GRP (gross rating points) mark on a weekly basis, before the launch of the show, zoomed up by over 25 GRPs per week.

Overall, the show that was spread over a 6-week span fared an average of 2.8 TVR.

On a week-on-week basis, the show managed an average TVR of 2.8 in its first week. The ratings dipped slightly in the second week (2.3 TVR) but as word of mouth about Rakhi’s hunt for a dulha spread, the ratings soared higher. However, after an average of more than 3 TVR for two consecutive weeks, the three remaining contestants and Rakhi lost some of the charm as average rating slumped to 1.5 TVR in the fifth week.

The final week (average 5.9 TVR) saw two major events in the show, Mehendi Sangeet on 1 August (3.4 TVR) and the finale, where she picked NRI Elesh Parujanwala as her to-be groom.

And now, the channel has decided to milk all the publicity around the couple, and has roped in them to contest in their upcoming reality show, Pati Patni or Woh, which is adaption of international format show Baby Borrowers. BBC Worldwide, which holds the rights of the show is producing it for the channel.

Arasu Cable Corporation ceases to exist in Tamil Nadu

The hope with which cable TV operators joined the Tamil Nadu government promoted Arasu Cable Corporation (ACC), promising a cheaper alternative to subscribers, at the height of the feud within the state’s first family is fast receding.

Now that the 2007 conflict between Tamil Nadu chief minister M Karunanidhi’s family and his grand-nephews, the Maran brothers, has ended, cable operators, who joined the state-run entity feel they have been left in the lurch.

Industry sources say they are battling political pressure to quit ACC and join one of the larger Multi System Operators (MSO) functioning across the state. Some cable operators in Tirunelveli and Vellore complained that they had to leave ACC owing to political pressure.

ACC is now on the verge of collapse, with just one or two operators in Tirunelveli, Vellore and Thanjavur still on its network, while many quitting the cable corporation in Coimbatore from around March this year in the wake of a police complaint by ACC against the Maran-run private operator, Sumangali Cable Vision (SCV) for allegedly cutting ACC cables.

A senior SCV official declined to comment on this story and asked WE to contact Kalanidhi Maran. Maran could not be reached on telephone. An email sent to his office remained unanswered.

“They (ACC) have virtually shut down operations in Vellore and Tirunelveli. All the infrastructure created by the government will end up as liabilities.” says, Shakilan, president, Tamil Nadu Cable TV Operators’ Welfare Association.

“In Thanjavur, about 200 operators are still trying to stick on to ACC but in Coimbatore, almost all cable operators have gone back to private networks. All operators want the CM to fulfill promises made to them last year and protection provided to them.” Shakilan adds.

“We still believe in the concept of ACC. Cable operators are virtually on the brink of collapse. ACC would help us survive. They have extremely good digital quality pictures and a well established network,” an cable TV operator said.

“We fear for our future in the cable business, if ACC cable does not take the steps it promised. We even asked for the equipment to be given on lease to us. But the government is not willing to do even that,” another operator in Vellore said.

Senior government officials, when contacted, indicated that some announcement was in the offing, but declined to talk about ACC’s plans. ACC was in fact expected to begin operations in Chennai in September 2008 itself, but there is no sign of the rollout happening.

Even the policy note tabled in the Assembly on Monday has no mention of the ACC’s plans for Chennai. “Arasu Cable Corporation has set up digital head-ends at Thanjavur, Tirunelveli, Coimbatore and Vellore utilising state-of-the-art equipment. Arasu is carrying out works in the districts to facilitate distribution of the signals,” the policy note said.

We has recently reported that Hathway Datacom, the Rajan Raheja-owned multi system operator, has discontinued its cable TV services in Chennai. TheO, which had a 10 per cent share of the city’s cable TV market, stated that SCV, had left theO with no choice but to close operations.

Sun Pictures shines with smash Tamil hits

Sun Pictures, the film production arm of Sun TV Network, has some reason to cheer. Having forayed into film production, acquisition and distribution less than a year ago, six out of the seven Tamil films acquired and released by the leading media company have turned out to be hits, including two that have been declared as smash hits.

Venturing into films Kaadhalil through Vizhundhein, Sun Pictures has since acquired and distributed Thenaavattu, Dindugal Sarathy, Padikkaadhavan, Thee, Ayan and Maasilamani. Except Thee, where the distributors lost about15 per cent of their investments or the print and publicity costs, every other film has given handsome returns to the distributors.

Among the hits, Ayan and Kaadhalil Vizhundhein have been declared as smash hits. While Ayan, acquired at a cost of Rs 18 crore, is expected to gross about Rs 50 crore and fetch a distributors’ share of over Rs 25 crore from all territories, Kaadhalil Vizhundhein, acquired for Rs 3.5 crore, collected a distributors’ share of Rs 8.5-9.2 crore.

“Sun Pictures looks for basic entertainment value in the films that they acquire With an eye on attracting the family audience, they shun films with excessive violence or sex. That’s the secret of the success of their portfolio of films,” says K S Mahalingam, head, distribution, AGS Entertainment, that distributes Sun Pictures’ films in Tamil Nadu.

While three films were small budget ones, Padikaadhavan and Ayan were big budget ones, where the acquisition costs ranged between Rs 14-18 crore. Now, it has again turned its attention on small budget films starting with Maasilamani.

“Once Sun acquires a film from the original producer, it palms it off territory-wise to a set of distributors at a marginal profit. As a result, there is no big increase in cost as the film changes hands. Where it actually gains is the satellite rights of the film, which it gets at almost nil cost.” says a veteran distributor, who did not wish to be named.

Later, it then turns its attention to aggressive marketing and the network, being an established media empire, comes handy in taking this across all segments of the media – television, radio and print.

“They are smart marketing people and the fact that they have a successful media empire gives them complete control over the campaign. Hence, their success rate is not surprising, only a failure will be surprising,” says G Dhananjayan, chief operating officer, entertainment business, Moser Baer Entertainment.

Sony TV taps Balaji movie CEO to head biz ops

After the turmoil and the forced exit of many senior executives, Multi Screen Media (formerly Set India) is filling up the positions. The company has tapped Ajit Thakur, the chief executive of Balaji Telefilms’ movie business, to take charge of its flagship Hindi general entertainment channel (GEC).

Thakur will join as Sony Entertainment Television business head from 1 July, a source in the company says. Albert Almeida, who was heading the channel, had to quit the organisation amid a clean-up operation in March.

Thakur will have the tough task of reviving Sony TV which has sunk in ratings to lag way behind rivals Star Plus, Colors and Zee TV in the Hindi GEC space. Sony, in fact, will have to contend with a steadily progressing NDTV Imagine for the fourth spot.

Sony got Gurdip Bhangoo from BBC Asian Network to head the channel’s programming and overhauled its prime time on 25 May. The channel is set to launch British broadcaster ITV’s popular celebrity reality show I’m A Celebrity…Get Me Out of Here (Iss Jungle Se Mujhe Bachao) to step up its ratings.

Sun Pictures pumps in Rs 2 bn towards movies in FY’09

Sun TV Network Ltd. has pumped in Rs 2 billion towards movies, upping its investments at a time when many players are crowding the market in the southern region.
Movie acquisition for telecast rights makes up the bulk of the investments for Sun TV Network which runs a clutch of highly successful channels in Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam languages.
“We have invested Rs 2 billion towards movies in FY’09. We have a library of 8500 films,” says a source in the company.

On the film production front, Sun TV has an investment plan of Rs 700-800 million for 10-12 movies a year. “We have a pipeline plan and the strategy is to produce small and medium budget movies,” adds the source.

Sun grossed a revenue of Rs 280 million from the few movies that it released last fiscal. “We had a 15-20 per cent RoI (return on investments) from the movies that we released in the fiscal,” says the source.

Sun is producing Endhiran on a budget of Rs 700 million. “The movie will come up by the end of this year or erly next year,” says the source.

Sun TV, which has Rs 3.30 billion of cash on its books, has a capex requirement of between Rs 750 million and Rs 1 billion in FY’10.

Star Gold unveils movie lineup for Valentine’s Day

On the occasion of Valentine’s Day, Hindi movie channel Star Gold is launching a “romantic movie festival” from 2 February onwards.

The festival, which ends on 26 February, will screen romantic movies like Naa Tum Jaano Na Hum, Hero Hindustani, Pyaar Deewana Hota Hai and Dil Tera Aashiq.

As part of the initiative, the channel will air the selected movies from Monday to Thursday during the afternoon slot.

The other films that will be screened as part of the festival includeImtihaan Dilwale, Mujhe Kuch Kehna Hai, Jab Pyar Kissi Se Hota Hai, Pyar Koi Khel Nahin, Radha Ka Sangam and Diljale.

Star Vijay to launch two Chennai Super Kings shows

Talk about exploiting a winning horse and Star Vijay is doing just that. The Star-owned Tamil entertainment channel has partnered with IPL team Chennai Super Kings (CSK) owner India Cements for two reality shows/talent hunts, Chennai Super Kings Juniors (CSK Juniors) and Chennai Super Kings Cheerleaders (CSK Cheerleaders). CSK Juniors will go on air on weekends (on Saturday and Sunday at 7 pm) from 21 February and will run for 20 episodes. Auditions are to be held at Chennai, Coimbatore and Trichy and 11 kids between 8-12 years will be recognized as the CSK Juniors. These kids will get to watch all the CSK matches in Chennai sitting in the pavilion. The top three contenders (the best bowler, best batsman and best all rounder) will get an opportunity to be present with the CSK team at their net practice and will get a chance to travel with them to any one of the other IPL matches. CSK Cheerleaders is slated to go on air on 20 February (every Friday at 10 pm) and will run for 10 episodes. As the show’s name suggests, it will test a number of boys and girls on their dancing skills and cheering routines over a series of competitive rounds, to find CSK cheerleaders. The selected team will be cheering the CSK team in every IPL match and will also be recognized as the official cheerleaders. To top this all, the show will have CSK and India skipper MS Dhoni as a lynchpin of sorts. Dhoni will be seen acting in the promos of CSK Juniors and CSK Cheerleaders. Other CSK team members VB Chandrasekar, S Badrinath, L Balaji, Krishnamachari Srikanth and percussionist Sivamani will also be joining him on Vijay TV.
The Star management is pretty kicked about the tie up. And with good reason. Dhoni, IPL 2008 finalist CSK, a talent hunt for junior cricketers, and youngsters who will be recognised as CSK official cheerleaders, you can’t get a better package than that for the cricket crazy denizens of Tamil Nadu.  Hear out Star India CEO Uday Shankar: “This is the first time that a GEC has tied up with a sporting event like the IPL in the manner that we have; a great strategy to capitalize on the brand and generate viewership.” Adds India Cements head marketing Rakesh Singh: “The first season of IPL was a roaring success and the CSK reached the finals. We wanted a television partner with whom we could associate and take this great brand to the roots of Tamil Nadu. Star Vijay approached us with these two concepts which will popularise the brand.” Vijay TV GM K Sriram further adds, “We are sure that we will put our best foot forward in making this content interesting to both the cricket lovers and the general audiences. This show will portray the aspirations of kids and their passion for the game striking a chord with the families as well. The show will surely generate interest of advertisers both in the national and retail markets.” Sriram says that the channel has kept sponsorship open to one title and eight associate sponsors. “There is a lot of interest from about a dozen potential advertisers for the same even in these tough economic times because of our offering. We expect to close the title sponsorship for about Rs 10 million and associates at about Rs 4 million.” He expects Star Vijay’s weekend share which is at 10 per cent today to grow to 12.5 to 13 per cent. Now all that is left is that the CSK shows draw in those numbers.