&TV gears up to fight the GEC game; stocks up content arsenal

Dinesh jain

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With an aim to strengthen its content offering
and increase viewership, &TV, the seven-month-old Hindi
GEC from Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd (ZEEL), is set
to give a push to its fiction line-up with four new shows.

The channel, which has seen decent growth in its
viewership but is yet to enter the big league of the GECs,
is now looking at aggressively building on programming
and the channel business head Rajesh Iyer is the man with the mission.

Iyer is ready to take the hard decisions, whether it is to
pull the plug on a non-performing show, or to rope in a
new fiction head (Vikas Gupta) from a youth channel.

Incidentally, all the four shows that the channel has lined
up are from completely different genres—fantasy, horror,
socio-mythological, as well as a young romantic drama
from soap queen Ekta Kapoor.

“These four shows are our immediate launches and the
idea was to bring variety and differentiated content.
Providing variety remains to be key for &TV. Our aim is to
offer differentiated content as it helps to increase
sampling,” Iyer told
First up from the channel is ‘Ye Kahan Aa Gaye Hum’,
produced by Balaji Telefilms. This is also Ekta Kapoor’s
first show for the channel. It will occupy the weekday
(Monday–Friday) primetime slot of 9.30 pm from 26
October, replacing historical show ‘Razia Sultan’.

“’Yeh Kahaan Aa Gaye Hum’ is our first Balaji show and
the idea was to get Ekta, a big name with a big show and
popular stars. We feel that this romantic story will
resonate well with the young audiences,” explains Iyer.
‘Yeh Kahan Aa Gaye Hum’ is a tale of friendship, love,
trust, betrayal and more. It revolves around Rahul
Sabharwal, who is a successful singer and one of the
many reasons behind the success of his father’s music
empire. A simple homebody, Rahul has an image of being
arrogant and uncaring, whereas in real life he is the
complete opposite. A strong-willed girl, Maanvi is a
simple girl and the pride of her parents. Singing is in her
genes and she has been trained under her father’s watchful
eyes in classical music. Maanvi loves her family and
unlike other girls her age, she does not consider Rahul a
great singer. The show explores what happens when their
paths cross.

The channel has already roped in Chings and Multani
Chavanprash as the co-powered by sponsors for the
show.

For the second show, ‘Darr… Sabko Lagta Hai’, &TV will
create a new weekend slot. The channel has roped in
Bollywood actress Bipasha Basu as the narrator.

Launching on 31 October, the show will air every Saturday
and Sunday at 10 pm, strengthening channel’s weekends
programming. The channel airs game show ‘Deal or No
Deal’ at 8 pm, followed by the investigative series ‘Agent
Raghav: Crime Branch’ at 9 pm.

Produced by Reel Life Entertainment, ‘Darr… Sabko Lagta
Hai’ is an episodic horror series featuring stories about
the paranormal, supernatural, spirits, ghosts and the
unseen. Helmed by Raj and DK of ‘Go Goa Gone’ fame,
the show with a contemporary approach will mark the TV
debut of Basu, who will host each story presented as short
films
Iyer stated, “In terms of consumption, horror as a genre
has mass appeal. While we have roped in Bipasha Basu
as the host of the show, ‘Darr Sabko Lagta Hai’ will also
see various popular actors and directors. We feel we have
all the right ingredients to enhance our weekend band with
the show.”

Aiming to bring in more variety and differentiated
programming to its line-up, the channel will launch a
fantasy saga titled ‘Adhuri Kahani Humari’ produced by
Four Lions Films. A story of reincarnation and love, the
show will launch on 16 November, airing at 7.30 pm from
Monday to Friday. It will replace the ongoing ‘Badii
Devrani’ in the early primetime slot.

“While we are opening a new slot on weekends with ‘Darr
Sabko Lagta Hai’, we are replacing two of our current
weekday shows ‘Razia Sultan’ and ‘Badii Devrani’ with ‘Yeh
Kahaan Aa Gaye Hum’ and ‘Adhuri Kahaani Hamari’
respectively. The intent is to increase original
programming on the channel,” he added.

The fourth show from the channel will be a socio-mytho
show titled ‘Santoshi Maa’. Produced by Rashmi Sharma
Productions, the show will focus on the belief of a
devotee in Maa Santoshi and how the goddess helps her
overcome obstacles in life.

The launch date and time slot of the show have not been
finalised yet. Iyer stated that they have positioned the
show as a ‘socio-mytho’, a new genre, as they did not
want to bring the show as a full-blown mythology. The
aim, he says, is to connect with the youth viewers.
Two months ago, &TV had roped in Gupta as the new
weekday programming head to drive the programming on
the channel. With several new fiction launches on the
anvil, the channel will gradually focus on the non-fiction
weekend line-up as well, as ‘Deal or No Deal’ culminates
in December.

Presently, the channel’s viewers comprise 45 per cent
males and 55 per cent females, stated Iyer. While there is
no particular skew, the channel is also working on
establishing its positioning in the crowded Hindi GEC
market.
“As a brand, we are progressive, contemporary and we will
continue with this philosophy going forward,” Iyer asserted.

Indian Television Dot Com | &TV set to unleash four new shows across genres


http://www.indiantelevision.com/television/tv-channels/gecs/tv-set-to-unleash-four-new-shows-across-genres-151022
 
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