MUMBAI: ESPN Star Sports, the official broadcaster of Hero Hockey India League, has lined up a comprehensive clutch of global syndication partners that are showcasing the tournament in over 83 territories worldwide.

Some of the leading names in the world of sports broadcasting like Fox Sports from Australia, Sky Sports from New Zealand, Ten Sports in Pakistan and South East Asia region are showcasing live coverage of HIL in respective territories.

Incidentally, Life OK, the second general entertainment channel from Star India, will air the tournament in UK and Europe. In South Africa, Life OK will share the rights on non-exclusive basis with pan-African sports network Supersport.

Similarly, in the Middle East North Africa (Mena) region Ten Sports and OSN will telecast the tournament since both are non-exclusive broadcast rights holder.

Asia focused sports network One World Sport will broadcast the tournament in USA and Canada.

Speaking on the occasion, ESPN Software India MD Aloke Malik said, ?These partnerships reinforce our commitment to set new benchmarks in the distribution of Hero Hockey India League. We look forward to working closely with all our partners and serve hockey fans all over the world with some mouth-watering high quality content.?

In India, the inaugural edition of the league is being broadcast with Hindi commentary on Star Sports while Star Cricket is showcasing select matches of the league in English. Live streaming of all the matches is also available on YouTube.

The International Hockey Federation (FIH) sanctioned HIL has players from as many as 11 countries. The first edition has witnessed participation from 5 teams namely Uttar Pradesh Wizards, Jaypee Punjab Warriors, Delhi Waveriders, Mumbai Magicians and Ranchi Rhinos.

List of syndication partners:
Sky Sports - New Zealand
Fox Sports - Australia and South East Asia (last 4 matches only)
Ten Sports - Pakistan, South East Asia, and Middle East North Africa
OSN - Middle East North Africa (non-Exclusive)
Supersport - South Africa (non-exclusive)
One World Sport - USA, Canada
Life OK - UK, Europe and South Africa

MUMBAI: In an attempt to build on its non-fiction/reality programming, Life OK is launching a new show titled ?Welcome: Baazi Mehmaannawaazi ki?, soon.

The show is an Indian adaptation of British TV show ?Come Dine with Me?.

According to the channel, Welcome is a competitive reality show that celebrates India?s obsession with playing the perfect host. There will be five celebrities hosting each other in their own house and compete to win a prize in the end.

"The fun, the joy of meeting strangers mixed with the undercurrents and clashes of very different personalities, makes the show the ultimate entertainment show. The bar is raised and the competition gets fierce as the five celebrities themselves are the judges on the show."

The promos of the show are on-air. While Ram Kapoor is playing the host in the cookery reality show, actors like Sara Khan, Debina Bonnerjee Choudary, Vindoo Dara Singh, Karanvir Bohra, Sanaya Irani will join as participants.

Welcome is expected to go on-air in January; however, the exact dates are still not announced.

MUMBAI: Being just philosophical didn?t work for Life OK but balancing it with entertainment did. After one year of entertaining and preaching, the second Hindi general entertainment channel (GEC) from Rupert Murdoch?s Star Network now wants to expand its appeal.

The theme Life OK has chosen as it embarked on its second year journey is to be inspirational, and not just be philosophical and entertaining. In its first year since being launched on 18 December 2011, Life OK says it conveyed to its viewers that the channel is different and talked about real issues. 

Life OK?s biggest desire for 2013 is that it wants people to start relating to the channel through programmes that make a difference in that it wants people to start relating to the channel through programmes that make a difference  their lives. "The ambition for what the channel can stand for is a lot more than what we have done and hence there is greater onus on us to tell better stories, that inspire India," Life OK general manager Ajit Thakur told Indiantelevision.com.

Thakur says, "When the channel had launched, it was a risky proposition because they had decided that they won?t do daily soaps like "saas-bahu" drama. Our thought was that we will do shows which have philosophy. Initially we did shows where there was philosophy without entertainment but they didn?t work but when we started to manage the balance between the two, we got thumbs up from the people."

Life OK will also focus on expanding its programming in its second year. "It?s always good to build a base then do that. Our priority (this year) will be to build our weekend while continuing to maintain our differentiation," Thakur points out.

The GEC had given a public service stance to its market campaign for its 26/12 show, a terrorism-based thriller show. As a strategy for promoting the show, the channel had launched a public service campaign where it didn?t ask viewers to watch the show but instead sought to create public awareness about terrorism and the need for citizens to stay alert. The channel proposes to carry forward the public service message in its programme marketing campaigns in 2013.

For Life OK, it has been a dream run since its launch. The channel had opened with 87 GRPs on 18 December last year. It has stabilised at around 120 GRPs, with special episodes in its fiction properties like Mahadev giving it the desired spikes to 140 plus GRPs.

Thakur notes, "It?s the channel?s strategy to gain high-points so that one adds eyeballs. That will always happen in a new channel because we are experimenting with new things, putting new slots. You cannot expect viewers to watch a show because you have a decent show, but have to fight for viewership. We are taking a conscious strategy to have the high-point in shows."

Mahadev had reached the highest TVR of 8.2 when the channel aired a special episode on Kaali. In the 10-weeks since 7 October, Life OK?s had average GRPs of 131, with the highest being 142 GRPs and the lowest being 121.

As part of its launch strategy, the channel had started with 20 minutes of break-free content that used to air seven days a week. Starting with shows like Rajeev Khandelwal-hosted Sach Ka Saamna, UTV Television produced Saubhagyavati Bhava, mythological Mahadev and Meri Maa, the channel has experimented with various formats and genres.

Life OK believed in providing viewers something that?s related or relevant in real life and aired shows on domestic violence (Saubhagyavati Bhava), on corruption (Sach Ka Saamna) and on crime (Savdhaan India).

Mahadev is credited with the revival of the mythology genre on Indian television and has become the flagship show of Life OK. When asked if this will blur the positioning of the Hindi GEC, Thakur said, "I don?t think we ever intended to make Mahadev our flagship property. It has just become a run-away hit. The risk is there but opportunity is also there."

By definition, daily family soaps attract only a certain segment of women viewers to GECs but television viewership in India is a lot more, says Thakur. "It?s about younger people, males, and kids who are coming on to our channel." 

"We have almost 50-50 ratio of men and women viewership and that?s because of the content we offer. We also have kids coming onto the channel. Our portfolio has become more balanced from a gender and age point of view," Thakur claims.

Life OK was launched with a conscious strategy of targeting the Hindi heartland of Uttar Pradesh and Delhi. But over time the channel has seen increased viewership in other states as well. The key markets for the channel now are Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Punjab, Gujarat and Maharashtra.

On marketing front, unlike rival channels Life OK has been focusing on the post-launch events. The channel has been promoting the highpoints of Mahadev and the city-focused special episodes of Savdhan India on various platforms to invite viewers to the show. It has also been very interactive with viewers with various kinds of below-the-line activities in different parts of the target markets.

The channel has not done very well in terms of non-fiction or reality content. Thakur admits that Sach Ka Saamna, which was positioned against corruption, became preachy and failed to entertain the audience, and hence was rejected. In a similar way there were flaws in the Laugh India Laugh show. The show could have been promoted in a better way but the channel has realised the mistakes made and will be fixing them before launching another season of the laughter show.

The channel is planning to launch two new shows soon. "One of the shows is ?Savitri? which is a new genre - fantasy and supernatural. We are also planning to launch a reality fun-filled show titled Welcome. We are not replicating any genre of ours but in each we are making sure that the message of Life OK is delivered," Thakur concludes.

MUMBAI: Life OK is in the midst of widening its entertainment menu as it seeks to strengthen its position in the Hindi general entertainment channel space. One such format it is actively pursuing is the comedy genre, a space dominated by rival channel Sab.

After failing in the reality comedy genre, Life OK is planning to launch a comedy-based fiction show. The channel is examining scripts but has not finalised on anything yet. "Comedy is a great thing to have as part of the diet. But we have not found the right script yet. A "me too" property on television can?t work in today?s world and the audience needs to be offered fresh content," Life OK content head Sanjog Gupta said.

Life OK had earlier aired a reality comedy show titled ?Laugh India Laugh? but it did not do well.

The channel is also launching two new shows aimed primarily at male audiences. While one is a fantasy horror, the other show is an action thriller. The details of these shows were not disclosed.

Life OK has experimented with various genres. It has introduced shows based on social issues like domestic violence (Saubhagyavati Bhava) and crime show (Savdhaan India- India fights back). It has also revived the mythology genre with ?Mahadev? and ?Ram Leela?.

New daily show ?2612? at 9 pm from 26 November

Life OK Wednesday announced it would be launching on 26 November a thriller-based show on terrorism titled ?2612?. The channel has rolled out a public service campaign to promote the new show that will air every Monday to Friday at 9 pm.

According to Life OK general manager Ajit Thakur, the USP of the marketing campaign is that it is a public service campaign. "We are doing a mega marketing of the show. We are promoting it on different mediums. But we are not saying ?come and watch the show and explosion?; what we are saying is that come and watch the show because we all can fight terror. We are not trying to do a sensational marketing for the show but making it sensitive. We are asking people to be more aware and alert," he said.

2612 is being promoted aggressively on the Star TV network and 17 other channels. The print ads will run on 19 publications across the country.

The channel will also use Social Media. The Digital Media Public service messaging campaign will have a clue based Facebook game, Youtube Masthead and Public service Messaging banners.

O&M has worked on the ads while Mudra and Bates India have executed it.

"With 2612, we are continuing with the journey of dealing with big social issues and also finding a solution to them. Through our new show, 2612, we are trying to bring people closer together, as one nation to fight the bigger evil. We want people to be more vigilant and most importantly, more united," said Thakur.

2612 is a story of ordinary people entrapped in a situation. It is the tale of a young, resilient Kindergarten teacher Rashmi Bhargav who finds herself at the centre of a terror plot more satanic than 26/11.