"I'm confident our loyal audience will return to the channel through this show": Sony's NP Singh on 'The Kapil Sharma Show'

Will 'The Kapil Sharma Show' add some much needed juice to Sony Entertainment Television's weekend programming lineup?

It is scheduled to go on air on April 23. The show will air every Saturday and Sunday at 9:00 pm.

The first episode will be shot in Delhi, with a live audience.

Besides Kapil, the show will feature most of the popular characters from Colors' 'Comedy Nights with Kapil', albeit in new avatars, in order to skirt potential copyright issues.

The 'squad', as the channel puts it, includes Sunil Grover, Ali Asgar, Kiku Sharda, Navjyot Singh Sidhu, Sumona Chakraborthy and Chandan Prabhakar, among others.

Pre-launch marketing efforts include a multi-city tour, wherein fans will get a chance to meet the cast. The tour is slated to begin at Amritsar on March 5, followed by Bhopal on March 11, Lucknow on March 16 and Delhi in April.

A contest,'Kapil Se Mil', is part of the mix.

The show has been produced by K9 and Frames Production.

Can a comedian turn the fortunes of a TV channel?

Team Sony hopes the show will revive its weekend programming line-up.

NP Singh, CEO, Sony Pictures Networks, broadcast network that Sony Entertainment Television is a part of, says, "We are trying to get our audience enthused again with the kind of content we are bringing in."

This show, he claims, is "the first step in overhauling" the channel's weekend programming mix.

"All our big shows, including Indian Idol, were at the 9:00 pm slot. We feel it's the best time during the weekend for 'family aggregation'," he says about the choice of slot.

Singh goes on, "... We're looking at an overall expansion of prime time. In two to three months you'll see a lot more action."

Going to to talk to us about 'The Kapil Sharma Show', Singh says, "Our expectation is that our viewers will really like the show, will appreciate the content that we are putting together, and will come back to watch it every Saturday and Sunday."

On the hiatus from the comedy genre, he says, "...we always believe in giving a break to a genre or a show; that has worked well for us... I'm confident that our loyal audiences will return to the channel through this show..."

About the name of the show, Singh adds, "Our team did some research, and when we were speaking to people, they all asked us, 'When is Kapil Sharma's show coming?'... For us, that was a good reason to name the show 'The Kapil Sharma Show'..."

Danish Khan, EVP and business head, Sony Entertainment Television, tells us, "A couple of years ago Sony had comedy (content), between 9:00 pm and 10:00 pm, as a strategic pillar of its programming line up. This year, in the fresh line up, we are back to comedy... it is becoming a critical part... it's great to have Kapil spearheading these efforts in the 'family comedy' domain."

Lava is the presenting sponsor of the show.

About the business side of things, Khan adds, "The show is getting a lot of consumer and advertiser interest because it is a 'happy show'."

Over the next couple of weeks, Khan's team will announce the names of more sponsors.

About what the new show means for his channel, he says, "GECs are about 'consensus viewing' within the family, as we are still, largely, single TV households. Sony has seen great days with a lot of variety in its programming -- we had something for all viewers, be it kids, male and female, young or old. We had a mix of genres, be it family drama, comedy, mythological shows, crime thrillers or love stories. Variety is our core and comedy is an essential part of that."

Khan fields a question about the importance of catering to rural audiences, with, "Sony is a channel which focuses on urban India, including (towns with) 1 lakh+ (population), so that includes 'small and big urban India'. Our prime time programming focuses on urban India. It's a large country and I don't see any one channel cutting across all psychographies or demographies. We are a network; while SAB TV has presence in certain demographies, Sony has presence in others."