Sony to launch new late night reality show

After consolidating its time band from 8-10.30 pm with programmes such as Jassi..., Ye Meri..., Hum 2 Hain Na...and Ayushman, Sony Entertainment Television is looking forward to launch a reality show at 10.30 pm.

Tarun Katiyal, executive vice-president, Sony Entertainment Television (SET), declined to elaborate further, except mentioning that the new show will be launched next month.

Katiyal also mentioned that the reality show would be a first-of-its-kind on Indian television. The reality show will be produced by Sony under the licence of an international television network.

SET is also planning to relaunch some of its programmes - which had clicked with viewers and thereby got good TVRs - in a new format, he added.

While CID will get a brand extension, Boogie Woogie will launched in a new format. The popular show Aahat will also be relaunched with a new look. Katiyal said, "We are shooting Aahat at different locations of the country now.

SET has, meanwhile, launched a talent show called Indian Idol and the channel executives are very bullish on this show. Katiyal said, "Indian Idols would be one of the best scorers for the channel." Channel executives said that Indian Idols - with its mix of humour, tragedy, and drama - is different from other talent hunts.

When asked about the strategy behind launching Indian Idol, Albert Almeida, senior vice-president, marketing, SET, said, "Launching Indian Idol was not just to follow the trend of starting a talent show. We launched the programme because the show gelled with the kind of programming Sony has."

The show been produced under the license from Freemantle Media, the content arm of Europe's largest television and radio broadcaster. The original show - American Idol and its UK version have been stupendous hits in their respective countries.

Reality shows are quite popular in the US and the UK but when it comes to India, this particular genre hasn't had many successes in the past, except for the one and only 'Kaun Banega Crorepati'.

Almeida says, "This is why, we have tried to Indianise the show by bringing in a Bollywood angle in it."

While the original show looks for pop singers (read English), the Indian version looks for singers, who can sing for Hindi movies. This is because, in India, music is equated to mainly film music.

This is also the reason the judges for the talent hunt are from the Indian film industry - choreographer-cum-film director Farah Khan, singer Sonu Nigam and composer Anu Malik.

Almeida also said that the channel will launch its campaigns in three phases. While the first phase would promote participation, the second phase will be for viewers and in the final campaign, viewers will be asked to vote for their favorite contestant.

Channel executives said the number of votes polled for American Idol was more than the votes poled during the US Presidential elections. Sony certainly is looking for an encore in India.

© 2004 agencyfaqs!