MUMBAI: The All India Football Federation is planning to bid for the under-17 FIFA World Cup in 2017 in a bid to take the popularity of the sport to the next level.

Described as a ?sleeping giant? by none other than the current FIFA president Sepp Blatter, the Indian football has been going through lots of high in the recent past with developments like Argentina-Venezuela match and the visit of Blackburn Rovers to Pune among others. The hosting of U-17 FIFA WC could well be the turning point for the sport, that is if all goes as per the plan.

AIFF vice-president A R Khaleel said that the national body is serious in its bid to host the Under 17 World Cup. "India is going to bid for the Under 17 World Cup in 2017. But it will be a long process and the AIFF will have to take permission from the government. It will be a long process."

Khaleel also brushed aside concerns, saying the country has the infrasturcture required to host this event. He also hinted that the event will be held at four or five countries across the country.

"Four or five venues will be enough and it can be held across the country. We have Jawaharlal Nehru stadium in Delhi, Banglaore Football Association Stadium, the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in Chennai and Salt Lake Stadium in Kolkata where the matches can be held. So we have the infrastructure," he said.

AIFF president Praful Patel had in the past expressed his desire to host the under 17 World Cup in 2017 following FIFA director for Member Associations and Development Division, Thierry Regenasses mooted the idea for India to host the tournament in 2017 or 2019.

The U-17 World Cup is a 24-team held every two years. The 2013 edition of the tournament will be hosted by United Arab Emirates while the 2015 event will be held in Chile.

MUMBAI: English entertainment channel BBC Entertainment?s car show ?Top Gear? will air a special on 1 February at 11 pm.

In the special, Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May set out to boost the British economy by embarking on a trade mission to India. Equipped with classic British cars - a Rolls Royce, Mini Cooper and a Jaguar - they set off on an epic road trip across India, devotedly promoting Britain with distinctly mixed results.

Their Indian adventure starts in Mumbai where they give the local dabbawallas a hand at delivering lunch boxes. Will Mumbai traffic get the best of them? The verdict lies in the hands of the dabbawallas.

Next stop is Jaipur, where the boys host a rally to test the mettle of Indian vehicles against their British wares. From a tuk-tuk or auto-rickshaw, to a Nano, an elephant and even the local policemen, the Jaipur dash has a array of racers all set to win the inaugural Top Gear India Hill Speed Climb Event. In Delhi, the boys host a gala with the who?s-who of town in attendance.

In typical ?Top Gear? fashion, nothing goes as per plan! With their trade mission going downhill, the boys head uphill to the mountains of Simla. Will the boys finally get lucky and accomplish what they?ve set out to do? A game of ?Straight Six Cricket?, a reinvention of cricket by Jeremy, might do the trick!

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.
 

MUMBAI: Factual entertainment channel History TV18 has announced the launch of its Gujarati feed.

History TV18 is the first international channel to launch in Gujarati. With this launch, it is also the only factual entertainment channel to be available in an unprecedented seven languages ? Gujarati, Bengali, Tamil, Telugu, Marathi, Hindi and English.

All the programmes and the fixed programme chart (FPC) schedule will remain identical in all the language feeds.

Viewers using digital platforms will be able to choose their preferred language through the remote control.

A+E Networks TV18 president Ajay Chacko said, ?Our objective is to grow the genre and make it a relatively main stream alternative for viewers in the near future. With this objective in mind, we intend to make the channel available in every Indian language possible and entertain audiences all across India.?

A+E Networks | TV18 JV VP. programming Sudheer KG said, ?As Indian audiences mature and seek out more international content in their own languages, there is no better a time than now to launch our Gujarati feed. The incredible level of aspirations of people speaking that language and a large youth population make it all the more appealing and lucrative. We have taken care to ensure that the translation retains a certain local flavor, making the channel more accessible and relatable."

Gujarat is an important market for factual entertainment after Mumbai and Delhi contributing as much as seven per cent to the genre in 1 Mn+ towns, according to estimates.

History TV18 said it has been a strong player here with the highest viewership in 0.1-1Mn market cluster and also highest time spent per viewer in 1Mn+ market cluster. Through this initiative, the channel hopes to strengthen its position.