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Pogo plans to be more Indian
After the success of Prime Pogo, Turner plans a series of new shows and a new set-up in India
Kids’ channel Pogo is planning to get more Indian. The channel is all set to introduce a few locally produced shows.
One of its new initiatives is a show titled ‘It’s Alive’, a humorous live show with Indian characters. The show will be aired on Sundays at 11am, starting May 21, 2006.
“We want to connect with the audiences and be an extension of their lives. And that’s why we lay huge emphasis on creating content just for India,” says Orion Ross, vice-president, creative and original content. Over the last two years, shows such as ‘M.A.D.’, ‘Pogo Amazing Kids Awards’ and ‘Bam Bam Bam… Gir Pade Hum’ were created in-house and run on Pogo.
According to its creators, ‘It’s Alive’ is the kind of show that has never been done in the kids’ space. And with this new initiative, Pogo plans to build a strong pillar in original production. Apart from ‘It’s Alive’, another new show for pre-school audiences titled ‘Galli Galli Sim Sim’ (an Indian version of ‘Sesame Street’) will be launched in July or August. This will be Pogo’s flagship pre-school programme.
‘Galli Galli...’ will cater to the educational needs of Indian kids and cover aspects such as cognition, physical well-being and emotions.
The channel also plans to revamp this season’s ‘Pogo Amazing Kids Awards’. There will be a series of short episodes about each nominee, an audience voting system, celebrity judges, etc. Meanwhile, Pogo is also going to come up with some sitcom and game shows in the near future.
In addition, the channel will soon launch its animation development centre in India. This centre, once developed, will invite and seek creative ideas, unique content on films, shows, etc.
Pogo will continue to work with top production houses such as Optimistix and Contiloe apart from its own in-house creations.
Ross has this to say about the success of dubbed programmes in India: “As long as the content of a show is interesting and the dubbing quality is in place, it doesn’t really matter whether it is dubbed or original. Moreover, Pogo evaluates which programmes will do well in India before dubbing.”
© 2006 agencyfaqs!