MUMBAI: Colors has acquired the rights of dancing reality show Jhalak Dikhla Jaa, the first four editions of which got telecast on rival Hindi general entertainment channel Sony.

Colors will show the fifth season of the show.

Produced by BBC Worldwide Productions India, this season of Jhalak Dikhla Jaa will continue to bring together choreographers and celebrities from different walks of life.

The exchange of knowledge about different dance forms that help to evolve the contestants is the USP of the show.

Colors CEO Raj Nayak said ?Jhalak Dikhla Jaa ? Dancing with the Stars is one of the most successful entertainment formats on Indian television and we are happy to collaborate with BBC Worldwide Productions. We have always wanted to showcase a dance show and what better than to acquire the biggest dance format show in the world.?

In the recent past, Colors had also acquired the rights for Screen Awards that since years were happening on Star Plus.
Jhalak Dikhla Ja is an Indianised presentation of International dancing format- Dancing With The Stars. The other International formats aired by Colors? are Bigg Boss, India?s Got Talent, Ring Ka King, Khatron Ke Khiladi.

MUMBAI: Viacom18, the joint venture between Network18 Group and Viacom, has posted a third straight quarterly loss as operating expenses have surged 47 per cent mainly on account of launch of new channels.

The company, which runs a clutch of entertainment channels including flagship Hindi general entertainment channel Colors, widened its net loss to Rs 532 million for three months ended December, versus a profit of Rs 460 million in the year-earlier period. In the first two quarters of this fiscal, it had slipped into the red with a net loss of Rs 10 million and Rs 284 million.

Operating expenses jumped to Rs 4 billion for the quarter, from Rs 2.72 billion a year ago. Marketing, distribution and promotional expenses made a big leap from Rs 450 million to Rs 926 million. The main trigger in this was an expense of Rs 200 million incurred from the launch of Sonic, Comedy Central and Colors HD. The launch cost and operating loss from new channel History TV18 amounted to Rs 250 million.

The positive thing is that the television business has stayed operationally profitable, primarily led by Colors. The operating profit from this segment has, however, narrowed to Rs 385 million, from Rs 520 million in the year-earlier period.

The movie business suffered an operating loss of Rs 739 million compared to Rs 200 million in the trailing quarter. In the year-ago third quarter, the company had stayed dormant on the movie front, taking an operating loss of just Rs 20 million.

Viacom18 said it has incurred a one-time expense of Rs 390 million in relation to the deferment of the Hindi movie channel. It has also taken write-offs at TIFC (The Indian Film Company) of Rs 146 million.

Overall, the company?s operating loss was Rs 355 million for the quarter, reversing from an operating profit of Rs 510 million a year earlier.

Says Network18 Group CEO Sai Kumar, "During the last quarter, our profits from continuing operations were offset by largely one-time costs incurred towards investments in the expansion of our television channel portfolio and the conscious impairment of our film library given the deferment of our Hindi movies channel. We strengthened our television stable further with launch of new services such as History TV18, Sonic and our HD bouquet comprising Colors HD, History TV18 HD and CNBC-TV18 Prime HD."

The spike in expenses overrided the growth in operating revenues which swung higher to Rs 3.65 billion for the fiscal third quarter compared to Rs 3.23 billion a year ago.

The television segment reported a revenue of Rs 3.54 billion (from Rs 3.23 billion a year ago) while the motion picture arm pocketed just Rs 109 million.

Adertising could continue to show a sluggish trend for the next few months. Says Kumar, "It has clearly been a sluggish phase for the industry as a whole. Advertising revenues continue to exhibit lacklustre growth and may continue at the same pace over the next few months. Our subscription revenues, however, are on track as projected."

MUMBAI: Balaji Telefilms has reported an eight per cent fall in its net profit for the quarter ended 31 December compared to the earlier year.

The production company, which currently has three shows on top Hindi general entertainment channels, has posted a net profit of Rs 11.2 million for the third quarter, as against a net profit of Rs 12.1 million in the earlier year.

However, the performance is much better when compared to a net loss of Rs 7 million the company had registered in the trailing quarter.

The production major witnessed a 15 per cent dip in income from operations to Rs 330.2 million in the quarter under review compared to Rs 390.4 million a year ago.

Balaji Telefilms has shows like Bade Acche Lagte Hain (Sony Entertainment), Parichay (Colors) and Pavitra Rishta (Zee TV).

The company reported an Ebitda loss of Rs 18.8 million for the quarter under review, compared to an operating loss of Rs 4.3 million a year ago. The other income of Rs 51.2 million helped the company to be in black.

Balaji Telefilms? realisation per hour from commissioned programming increased to Rs 2 million in the quarter, compared to Rs 1.85 million a year ago. However, in the trailing quarter, it was at Rs 2.1 million. The realisation per hour from sponsored programming was at Rs 330,000 in the quarter, compared to Rs 480,000 in the Q2 FY?11.

Commissioned programming remained flat at 120 hours in Q3, compared to Q2 FY?11, while sponsored programmes reduced to 94.5 hours in Q3, compared to 99 hours in Q2.

The company?s total investments as of 31 December stood at Rs 2.57 billion, including Rs 300 million in wholly owned subsidiary Balaji Motion Pictures Ltd (BMPL).

MUMBAI: Colors is gearing up to launch another international format show for the weekend slot.

Ring ka King? Wrestling ka Mahayudh, a sports entertainment reality show, is produced by Endemol India in association with Total Nonstop Action (TNA) Wrestling, a privately held professional wrestling promotion company founded by Jeff Jarrett and Jerry Jarrett.

The show combines elements of reality and fiction and is about TNA wrestlers and the Indian wrestlers who will fight for the title of "Ring Ka King".

Interestingly, in 2009, Colors had aired an Argentinian format show 100% - De Dhana Dhan, also produced by the same production house. However, it could not manage to get eyeballs and the channel never launched another season of the show.

When asked about the similarities with 100%, Endemol India MD Deepak Dhar said, "It is similar but very different. Our partners are different, wrestlers are different. It is a completely new format. And we have put in a lot of time and efforts to groom Indian wrestlers."

Colors has roped in Tata Prima Trucks as the title sponsor of the show, while Harbhajan Singh is the goodwill ambassador.

The show will run for 13 weeks and will go on air on 28 January at 8 pm, on Saturdays and Sundays. At present, the channel airs movies during that time.

The show will feature 14 Indian and 16 international wrestlers including Jeff Jarrett, Matt Morgan, Scott Steiner and Monster Abyss. Indian wrestlers to participate in the show are Jwala, Mahabali Veera, Romeo Rapta, Zoravar and Deadly Danda amongst others.

Colors CEO Raj Nayak said, "India, for the first time will witness the excitement of a sport and the intensity of a drama, both rolled into one. We believe that the show will appeal to our viewers and advertisers who are constantly looking for new and innovative platforms to reach out to their audiences."

Colors is also looking to regain its lost glory. The channel, which has fallen to number third position, is eyeing to fix its weekend with the launch of this show, post which it will look at resurrecting its afternoon slot.

"Once we fix our weekends, we will eventually lift our afternoon programming and then try to improve ratings. We want to be No. 1 but not at the cost of profitability. We are trying to get the right balance and make sound investments so that we first consolidate our position as No. 2 and then climb to No. 1," said Nayak.

Dhar added, ??It?s an exciting format for us to work with. While the focus of course will be on the wrestling matches, it is the entertainment and the drama aspect of the show that will put the matches in perspective making them a lot more interesting. Endemol has entered into a partnership with TNA Entertainment, to popularise professional wrestling."

For selecting the participants from India, Endemol?s team went to 13-14 cities except Mumbai and Delhi. "We went to the smaller cities of Haryana, Punjab and UP," Dhar said.

According to Nayak, the core target group for the show is males in the age group of 16-35 years. "The show will also attract kids and lot of young women audiences."

The channel is going to heavily promote the show. Colors AVP-marketing Rajesh Iyer said, "We will be having cross channel promotion for five weeks. We will be rolling out outdoor communication in more than 70 cities. In print, there will be more than 100 ads on the day of launch. We will also be having radio innovations by putting up disruptive advertising between content. For the same, we have tied up with few stations. We are creating two characters on radio, who will be talking about Ring Ka King."

The channel will be active on the digital media as well. "On digital we have applications that we are creating. We are associating with Agneepath for promotion in Cinema. For on ground activities, we are going to 25 cities, where we will be doing road shows. There will be innovations on outdoor and on print with Mid-Day on its 28 January edition," said Iyer.