Saibaba Telefilms enters southern television market with a show for Sun Network

The other production houses active in the southern television market include prominent names such as UTV, Creative Eye and Balaji Telefilms

The production house Saibaba Telefilms, owned by Gajendrra Siingh, who's credited with popular music shows such as Sa Re Ga Ma Pa and STAR Voice of India, is headed towards the southern television market with yet another musical talent hunt show.

Currently, the other production houses which are active in the southern television market include prominent names such as UTV, Creative Eye and Balaji Telefilms.

Saibaba Telefilms enters southern television market with a show for Sun Network

In an email interaction with afaqs!, Rajib Chatterjee, chief executive officer, Saibaba Telefilms, says, "We are looking at making music reality shows in two-three unique formats every year, which is an innovation in itself for the television audiences in South India. As an entity, we are tapping areas we are strong in and it's all about creating an array of formats to give the viewers the much needed choice they desire."

Saibaba Telefilms' first show for the southern television market is for Sun Network. The musical talent hunt will see six industry stalwarts of Kannada music mentoring 12 participants on the show. Auditions for the show are already in progress.

Without sharing the monies being pumped in for its debut in the market, Chatterjee says, "The production house is extremely active in the regional markets and is growing from strength to strength in both non-fiction and fiction space. Our shows such as Sur Sangram on Mahuaa TV and other offerings in regional languages including Bengali and Marathi command a sizeable audience. We hope to make an impact in the southern television space as well."

Currently, the production house is producing content for TV networks such as STAR Plus, Sun Network, ETV Network, STAR Jalsha, Mahuaa and Doordarshan National.

It is learnt that South India is home to nearly 45 per cent of the cable and satellite homes in India. The television market consists of numerous distinct segments. Each of the language markets in Kannada, Malayalam, Tamil and Telugu have distinctive characteristics.

Sharing a few insights on the southern television market and Saibaba Telefilms' strategy for it, Chatterjee says, "Parts of North, East and South Karnataka have a large populace who are influenced by Marathi, Telugu and Tamil, respectively. Also, in Karnataka, people speak Coorgi, Tulu and Konkani, besides Kannada. People from all over India reside in Bengaluru and we have factored in the diversity of the market in all our programming and marketing decisions."

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Saibaba Telefilms Rajib Chatterjee