Telethon on Sony targets a revenue of Rs 2.5 crore

General entertainment channel Sony along with production house UTV and non-government organisation CRY has lined up seven hours of live programming on this Republic Day with an event Telethon. The event, which will be aired from 1 pm to 8 pm, is aimed to raise funds for children.

Vikas Varma, COO, UTV Television says, “We have produced a slickly packed, seven-hour live show in an entirely new format and drive the nation towards contributing for a noble cause. Although these type of events are quite popular abroad, it is being organised for the first time in India.”

Telethons have been used since the 1950s as an effective fund raising tool in the US, the UK, Australia, and Canada etc. with millions of dollars being raised annually.

The organisers have set a target of raising around Rs 2.5 crore from this event.

And to collect this amount, celebrities from all sectors such as Bollywood, musicians, sportsmen, industrialists as well as trendsetters will come forward and urge people to donate as much money they can.

Varma says, “We have set up dedicated telephone lines for this event, where viewers can call and commit the amount of money they are ready to donate.” Viewers can also pledge any amount of money by SMS, or Internet. For the SMS service, CRY has tied up with mobile2win.

Money would also come in through airtime ad sales. When agencyfaqs! tried to find out the share of money that could go to CRY from advertisements, Tarun Katiyal, business head, Sony says, “The revenue earned from advertising would only go to CRY. We are just providing a platform to telecast this event and the entire booking of ad slots has been done by CRY.”

In the seven hours of programming, celebrities such as Shah Rukh Khan, Bipasha Basu, Gautam Singhania, John Abraham, Harsha Bhogle, Jackie Shroff, Makrand Deshpande, Raveena Tandon, Pooja Bedi, Diana Hayden, Shaan and many others will come on air narrating emotional and humorous anecdotes about their childhood and their kids, and share some heart rendering moments with the viewers.

Apart from this, a special song composed by Adesh Srivastava and written by Javed Akhtar will be aired. Eleven professional artistes will sing this song.

Harsha Bhogle, the famous cricket commentator, will show off his talent in a game of French cricket. The event will also air a film on planting the symbol (chakri) on the child’s rights movement – the Free-A-Child chakri – in New Delhi, Bangalore and Mumbai in the presence of the local celebrities and the President of India A P J Abdul Kalam.

Abobe all, viewers will also get to taste the best of entertainment with Bollywood and Indi-Pop performances, dance, stand up comedy, interviews, musicals, etc during the telecast of Telethon. UTV has created a special set for this event.

© 2005 agencyfaqs!