Sign up for afaqs! Newsletters
Siddharth Bahuguna of QRT Productions has been roped in to head the channel's non-fiction content
In an attempt to further boost its fiction and non-fiction offerings, general entertainment channel, Colors has made a few structural changes to its programming team.
The GEC has roped in Siddharth Bahuguna as head -- non-fiction content. Bahuguna is a freelancer and, in the past, has worked with channels as well as production houses, including Discovery, Sony, Nickelodeon (US), Channel 4-UK, AXN, National Geographic Channel (NGC), Zee, and STAR One.
Bahuguna has also been at the helm of affairs at QRT Productions along with Ramon Chibb, who recently joined NGC as senior vice-president, content. Bahuguna's expertise lies in handling factual and entertainment-based programming, travel and reality shows, studio-based shows and advertiser-funded series.
Speaking to afaqs!, Bahuguna says, "The first priority would be to focus on, and further consolidate, the existing non-fiction properties of Colors, including India's Got Talent, Khatron Ke Khiladi and Bigg Boss. Going ahead, efforts will be made to tap new producers and explore fresh formats."
In another major development, Colors has divided its fiction content into four time blocks. Each time block will now be handled individually by existing members of the programming team.
This move has been necessitated by the departure of Saurabh Tiwari, who headed fiction for the channel. Tiwari had been with Colors since the launch of the channel in 2008.
The four time blocks will be headed by Anju Kapoor, Devyani Rale, Sumeet Saincher and Shivani Shah. All the block heads, as well as Bahuguna, will directly report to Yardi.
Commenting on the changes effected in the programming team, Yardi says, "Given our rapid pace of growth since launch and the increase in our programming hours over the last few months; it is critical for us to keep the focus balanced across fiction and non-fiction, and across various time-bands, to continue delivering differentiated programming."