MUMBAI: Colors has acquired the broadcast rights of American political action series ?24? from Anil Kapoor Film, the Bollywood actor?s production house.

The show is slated to go on air in the summer of 2013. It adds to Colors? portfolio of international formats which includes ?Bigg Boss?, ?India?s Got Talent?, ?Khatron Ke Khiladi?, and ?Jhalak Dikhhla Jaa? in the recent years.

Kapoor had acquired the rights of ?24? from 20th Century Fox a year ago to remake the popular series for Indian audience. The actor is believed to have paid between Rs 850 million to Rs 1 billion for the rights.

?24? will mark the launch of Anil?s Kapoor first television production under the banner Anil Kapoor Film. The actor will also play the protagonist, Jack Bauer, in the India version. Kapoor had played the role of Omar Hassan in Season 8 of the international series.

Kapoor said, "While scouting for a perfect partner we were in talks with 2-3 leading channels. We chose Colors as in them we see the right platform that not only had a solid connect with the audiences but also enjoyed the reputation of providing futuristic entertainment. 24 was my destiny. I was offered to play a role in the international series, and then I had made up my mind to bring this show to India. In less than a year I bought the rights to produce an Indian version."

?24? is a new hybrid genre of entertainment that will see amalgamation of fiction and reality.

"?24? is a show that brings Anil Kapoor?s mass appeal and Colors? mass audience together to create history in Indian Television. It?s an honour to bag 24 for Colors; in fact it?s a reward for our efforts and our firm belief in continuously providing disruptive content to our audiences. I am confident the show will set new standards in entertainment and further strengthen connect with Indian audiences," said Colors CEO Raj Nayak.

The Indian adaptation of ?24? is being penned by Rensil D? Silva with Abhinay Deo as its director. The duo will work together with the Colors programming team led by Colors weekend programming head Manisha Sharma.

MUMBAI: Colors has split its programming unit into two separate teams to bring more focus on content for weekdays and weekends.

Manisha Sharma, who joins from tomorrow, will handle weekend programming with a team size of 10. Prashaant Bhatt, who was earlier in charge of fiction programming, will get the weekdays to nurse.

Colors? programming structure earlier evolved under a fiction and a non-fiction head without a programming head, after Ashvini Yardi quit to pursue film projects as an entrepreneur.

The need to change, effective 1 May, comes under the wake of a forward programming strategy that will include fiction content on weekends with a different kind of appeal. The series that Colors airs on weekdays and runs fresh on the channel on weekends as specials will continue to be looked after by Bhatt.

Effective 1 May, the realignment is aimed at strengthening content for the entire week as the channel strives to improve its ratings so that it climbs in the GEC ratings ladder. For the week ended ended 21 April, Colors ranked fourth, behind Zee TV, Sony and market leader Star Plus, according to TAM data.

Both Bhatt and Sharma will report to Colors CEO Raj Nayak.

Says Nayak, "Given Sharma?s vast experience and thorough knowledge of the industry, I am sure she will bring in the edge and experience in taking weekend programming to a new level. With this dynamic combination Bhatt managing the weekday programming and Sharma taking charge of weekends, we are hoping to make sure that Colors is a strong player throughout the week and, through this realignment equal focus will be laid on both ? weekday and weekend."

Colors hopes to gain from Sharma?s experience with Sony TV where she was non-fiction head. She was also responsible for developing shows like Comedy Circus, CID and Crime Patrol. Sony leads the weekends because of Crime Petrol and CID which figure in the top 10 show list.

MUMBAI: Sony Entertainment Television non-fiction head Manisha Sharma has quit the network where she spent nearly eight years.

Sources said Sharma will be joining Colors as non-fiction head, a position that was lying vacant after Siddharth Bahuguna quit.

Sharma played a role in the turnaround of Sony with shows like Kaun Banega Crorpati, Crime Patrol and CID.

Sharma and other officials from Sony and Colors were not available for their comments.