Sony lines up new soaps, blockbuster movies

It is an acknowledged fact that ‘Jassi' has proved to be a lucky mascot for Sony Entertainment Television. The show, in conjunction with the time transition-enabled Kkusum, has helped the entertainment channel strengthen its position in the 9-10 pm prime time slot on weekdays, claims SET India. "Jassi and Kkusum have helped us consolidate our position among the top 50 programmes in the TVR charts," says Rohit Gupta, executive vice president, Sony Entertainment Television India.

With Jassi and Kkusum shoring up Sony's fortunes in the prime time slot, the channel is now training its sights on the 10 pm slot with a new daily soap, Ye Meri Life Hai. The serial revolves around a middle-class girl and how she copes with her life at college. "Kitchen politics has already had its share of viewership and viewers are already bored with it," opines Gupta. "Sony is now concentrating on new genres targeting the youth in the 15-35 age group."

Sony also has a few other new programmes lined up for launch this month. Come April 10, the entertainment channel is launching another soap, Saaksshi, in its Saturday night, 9 pm slot. Saaksshi is the story of a typical middle-class girl with an ambition that is rare - to become an undercover operative in an anti-terrorist squad. Popular television star Mauli Ganguly stars as Saaksshi in the serial.

While the channel is also planning some children's programmes for its 7.30-9 pm slot, it has also managed to lay its hands on the television rights of quite a few Bollywood hits for its weekend movie slot. While Salman Khan-starrer Tere Naam was recently aired on the channel (it managed getting a TVR score of 8), forthcoming blockbusters include Amitabh Bachchan's Baghban (scheduled to air on May 21), Ajay Devgan's cop drama Gangaajal, and Hrithik Roshan-starrer Koi Mil Gaya. "Koi Mil Gaya would be premiered on Sony sometime during the Diwali," reveals Gupta. "Also, Sony has always been known for its events and special programmes, and a major attraction for our viewers in the month of May would be The IIFA awards being held in Singapore."

Gupta believes that the new programmes will help Sony bounce back on the TVR charts. "We have been successful in filling all the major slots with the couple of programmes we have recently launched, and the two new programmes will further help us re-strengthen our programming base, and also provide better value for our advertisers," he says.

When asked about Sony Entertainment Television's plan for a children's channel, he says, "We are working towards it, and in all probability, we will soon come up with something on the genre. It might be that we come out with a kids' channel of our own. Alternately, there might be an international kids channel in our bouquet, as talks are also on with some lead international players from this domain." © 2004 agencyfaqs!