MUMBAI: Even though Max is gearing up to launch the fifth season of the Indian Premier League (IPL) on 4 April, the Hindi general entertainment channels (GECs) seem to be relaxed and unaffected.

The executives of these channels believe that it will be working as usual this time, and are not showing any concern because of the IPL 5.

This is despite the fact that India is still a single TV household and IPL is known for starting a trend of attracting housewives and kids to watch matches. And, the GEC genre has been seeing a drop in its share during the time of IPL.

However, this time there have been apprehensions about the response for IPL because Indian cricket team has not been performing very well. Yet, it poses a challenge for the GECs when it comes to audiences? preference.

The GEC genre had shrunk by 4.35 per cent during IPL 4 (in the All India market), as compared to a 9.07 per cent drop it had witnessed in the first season of IPL.

GECs are gearing up to launch new shows also during the time of IPL to attract more eyeballs, even if the rest of the plan remains the same.

Colors, for instance, has launched a new fiction today at 7 pm band by the name Kairi. .

According to Colors CEO Raj Nayak, "Today there is so much of cricket all through the year. IPL for us is just another good cricket tournament in the annual calendar. The genre share does not get impacted severely, so for us its life as usual. And it is reflected in our approach, we are launching a new program- Kairi in the launch week of IPL. We have a programming strategy in place. Our focus will be to continue to give our viewers differentiated and a broad variety of fiction and non fiction content."

Zee TV, with its newly found vigour will be launching three new shows. It is bringing back its dancing reality show, DID lil Masters soon. Additionally, it is launching a new fiction show Phir Subah Hogi.

Zee Entertainment Enterprise (Zeel) marketing head - national channels Akash Chawla said, "We are ready to combat IPL this time too."

Chawla noted that the impact of IPL-2 was far less significant than that of the IPL-1. "Last year, the GECs received a 10-15 per cent rating hit because the IPL event was held after the board exams. Two things emerge clearly. One, that regular GEC shows are growing in terms of audience numbers despite IPL. And two, the return on investment, as a result, on the IPL is much lower than on the GECs for advertisers. The five times premium advertisers paid on the IPL is not delivering as much return."
Star Plus, the leading Hindi GEC is planning to take two of its shows, ?Sasural Genda Phool? and ?Maryada?, off-air. The channel is expected to introduce two new fiction properties Ek Dusre se Karte Hain Pyaar Hum and Pyaar Ki Naukri.

Star India business head Hindi channels Nitin Vaidya also feels that IPL will not be able to shake the GEC genre stability. He said, "IPL effect has been declining over a period of time. Star Plus? programming strategy does not depend on IPL. We follow an annual calendar and all programming strategies are implemented accordingly. In the past as well we have launched programs that have done pretty well."

Turner International India chief content officer Vivek Bahl, who looks after the content of Imagine TV also, added, "Anything that brings up decent numbers does affect other?s ratings to an extent. Though the IPL ratings have been dipping each year, non-fiction shows get more affected than fiction shows by the same. Especially fiction that?s been a habit tends to get lesser affected during the IPL. Guess the above is due to the simple fact that the core non-fiction viewers are also those who watch the IPL.

"IPL target audience could be different but to lure that audience does a channel try to incorporate some activities around IPL in their popular shows. We don?t believe in tweaking our content in the face of any outside events or competition. The only ones we cater, & try to stay true to, are our viewers."

Meanwhile, Sony Entertainment Television and Sab, being the sister channels of Max, are not launching any new show. But post IPL, Set will launch singing reality show the sixth season of Indian Idol.

Life OK, Star India?s second GEC will be launching Aasmaan Se Aage on 23 April.

MUMBAI: Putting an end to the mystery behind the "Ab Shekhar Dubara Karega" campaign, Sab, the family comedy channel from Multi Screen Media (earlier Sony Entertainment Network), has announced the return of Shekhar Suman with ?Movers and Shakers?.

Starting 12 March, the show will air Monday-Friday at the 10.30 pm time slot.

This is after a gap of 10 years that Suman will be hosting the iconic chat cum stand up show. Suman had first appeared in the show in 1997 on Sony Entertainment Television and the show ran till January 2001.

Sab EVP and business head Anooj Kapoor believes Movers and Shakers will push Sab ahead of Zee TV, the way Kaun Banega Crorepati had helped Sony overtake Colors.

"Movers and Shakers is making a comeback after a decade but people have still not forgotten it primarily due to Shekhar?s trademark style and wit. The second season is going to be a new challenge for Shekhar because the audience he is speaking to this time is the entire family. However, given his versatility we are sure that he will be able to carry it off successfully," Kapoor said.

The channel has chalked out a big promotion push for the show. While it has already painted big cities with hoardings of the teaser campaign, the second phase will see even a bigger drive. Without disclosing the exact amount, Kapoor said that Sab will be spending 7 per cent of its total marketing budget on this show. The channel has chartered a Jet Aircraft which will go to seven cities with Suman to promote the show.

To accommodate the show, channel is shifting FIR from its present 10.30 pm slot to 11 pm, while the repeat of Tarak Mehta Ka Oolta Chashma will shift to 11.30 pm.

"We get a 1-1.5 TVR at 11 pm with FIR, while Tarak Mehta? repeats at 11 pm get close to 2 TVR. So we decided to expand the primetime. Moreover, both FIR and Movers and Shakers have viewership that is male-skew. This will help the show," Kapoor explained.

Movers and Shakers this season will retain the basic elements of topicality, freshness, variety and unpredictability but the differentiator will be a more mature host, Sab said. He will offer his comments on all things concerning common people based on the collective wisdom gained from his journey through the rough and tumble of the country?s issues. The show is being produced by Sailesh Dave from Runaway productions.

Speaking about the show, Suman said, "I am excited to be back with Movers and Shakers. It?s a cult show and a great platform to reconnect with the people as well as be the common man?s voice. The show this time will be incisive, irreverent, endearing and entertaining all at the same time!"

Movers and Shakers this season will see the host focusing more on the human aspects of celebrities and their stories along with a set of ?must see elements?, ?street segments? and a ?common man? segment.

Mumbai: Sony Entertainment Television (Set), the No. 2 Hindi general entertainment channel ,is gearing up to expand its prime time band with the launch of a new fiction show, Shubh Vivaah.

Starting 27 February, the new show will air Monday to Friday at 7.30 pm.

Multi Screen Media COO NP Singh said, ?The year 2012 began on a successful note with the launch of Kyaa Hua Tera Vaada. Our second fiction offering this year, Shubh Vivaah will enhance the existing bouquet of fiction shows on Set. With a robust roll out for both fiction and nonfiction slated right across the year, 2012 promises to be an exciting year for us.?

Set Sr EVP and business head Sneha Rajani added, ?Having consolidated our fiction line up between 8 pm ? 11 pm slot, with Shubh Vivaah we are now extending our offering further. The show, based in UP, has a compelling story line that will appeal to the audiences across Hindi heartland.?

Produced by UTV Television, the show talks about how middle class girls in India dream about marriage since their childhood and how each girl tries to find love and makes her marriage work.

UTV Television COO Santosh Nair said, ?Shubh Vivaah is an adaptation of the award winning Tamil show ?Metti Oli? and we are glad to bring this show to our Hindi audiences through Set. The show has a heart warming storyline which will definitely strike the right cord with the audience. We look forward to this show being another stupendous success like its Tamil counterpart.?

Eijaz Khan and Neha Janpandit are the leads of the show.

MUMBAI: Hindi general entertainment channel Sony Entertainment Television (Set) and English movies channel Movies Now have been voted as the broadcasting success stories of 2011, as per Ormax Media?s year-end report ? Front Page 2011.

The results are based on a Decision Makers Survey (DMS) conducted amongst senior advertisers, media planners and media journalists across India.

In the DMS, respondents were asked for their opinion on the channel which can be called the "Success Story of 2011". Sony emerged as the winner by a sizeable margin. The channel was chosen for its climb from No. 4 position in 2010 to the No. 2 position in the second half of 2011. The channel was appreciated for its line-up of programmes, such as Kaun Banega Crorepati, Bade Achhe Lagte Hain, Crime Patrol and CID.

Movies Now was selected for its strong performance among the English movie channels genre. The channel made an impact within weeks of its launch in December 2010, and took the No. 1 position in the genre in most weeks in 2011. Decision makers felt Movies Now has managed to push other EMCs into relooking at their game, and made the genre a lot more interesting as a result.

Other channels that got appreciation from the decision makers include Star Gold, History TV18, Channel [V], Disney Channel and Star Pravah, Ormax Media said.