Nickelodeon, the Viacom-owned kids channel which launched in India in October 1999, has recently initiated a series of new programming blocks which it hopes will improve viewer recognition levels.

Nickelodeon has three programming blocks - Nick Jr., GAS and Toons on Toast.

Nick Jr., is targeted at younger viewers aged 2 to 5 years old and features Blues Clues, Eureeka‘s Castle, Gullah Gullah Island and the premiere of Little Bill. Blues Clues has won the Parents Choice Gold Award in the US. Blues Clues features an animated girl puppy Blue and her human friend Steve, who invite viewers to interact and learn through play. The series has made strides in pre-school television by exploring advanced subject matter such as sign language, geography, physics, emotions and anatomy.

Based on the popular book by the famous comedian Bill Cosby, Little Bill follows the adventures of an inquisitive, energetic and highly imaginative 5-year-old boy as he investigates the world.

Nick Jr. can be seen weekdays from 9 am to 11 am.

GAS (Games & Sports) offers up thrills and spills through Global Guts, Double Dare 2000, Legends of the Hidden Temple and Figure it Out. Global Guts is a game show that makes sport fantasies, come true for kids from around the world with wacky sporting events. Double Dare 2000 challenges kids and their families mentally and physically, against competing families. Legends of the Hidden Temple features mystery themes and physical action where two teams of kids compete to find an ancient artefact hidden on the set of a Mayan ruin. Hosted by former US Olympic champion, Summer Sanders, Figure it Out features Nick stars guessing each contestants hidden talents.

GAS airs weekdays from 3 PM to 5 PM

Toons on Toast serves up Nickelodeon‘s most popular animation shows in the morning with Rugrats, Hey Arnold!, The Wild Thornberrys and CatDog. Toons on Toast airs weekdays from 6 am to 8 am.

Nickelodeon projects itself as a multi-genre kids channel unlike Cartoon Network which is solely an animation channel. However, its pitch has failed to enthuse and it remains a fringe product at the moment with acceptance problems somewhat akin to that faced by Hallmark in the English movie segment.

Nickelodeon‘s problems are if anything much worse because of distribution problems. The channel has an exclusive distribution alliance with the Zee Group‘s Siti Cable Network. It is hoping the new programme blocks it has put together will provide a platform for the channel to obtain carriage on other MSOs as well.

The Hydrabad-based Eenadu Group, one of the largest media networks in southern India promoted by Ramoji Rao, will be launching ETV Urdu channel next month. The launch date is still being finalised, industry sources say.

Rao is also laying out plans for a major expansion in the Eenadu Television Network, to be executed over the next two years, which will bring the number of channels under the ETV banner to 14.

ETV has been building its programming content for the Urdu channel for more than one-and-a-half years. The target audience will not only the Urdu speaking audiences in India but also the Gulf countries (Pakistan as well?). The Urdu spoken on the channel will not be pure Urdu (which not many people understand) but that spoken by common people so as to give it a broader viewership.

Eenadu Television Network, which has successfully been running ETV Telugu for the last six years, launched ETV Bangla in May 2000, followed by ETV Marathi in June and ETV Kannada in December. All the channels are reportedly doing well in their respective territories except for ETV Marathi which is facing some problems as far as reach is concerned.

Industry resources say Eenadu has big plans for its regional bouquet. Next on the cards are channels in Gujarati and Oriya scheduled for launch later this year. Next year will see the launch of channels in seven regional languages. The aim of the network is to build a brand and cater to niche audiences in all major regional languages.

Other plans on the group‘s agenda is to promote the Ramoji Rao Filmcity in Hyderabad in India as well as abroad. The group also has plans to capitalise on its strong brand presence in the print medium by launching a Kannada language daily newspaper in the near future.