Mumbai: 92.7 BIG FM, the radio arm of Reliance Broadcast Network (RBNL) has appointed Pankaj Vassal as vice president- regional business head for West and East.

Vassal will report to 92.7 BIG FM business head Rabe T Iyer.

He will be responsible for business growth and overall P&L for the business vertical. His key focus areas will be to grow the radio business, expanding the West and East Zones of the network from the revenue point of view.

He will be working closely Neeti Virmani who has been appointed as station head for Mumbai. Her role will involve - managing overall business and operations of the Mumbai station while managing the P&L, by driving functions including sales, programming, and marketing.

Iyer said, "We are happy to have the talented and well endowed duo of Pankaj Vassal and Neeti Virmani come on board 92.7 BIG FM. Am confident, their vast and in-depth understanding of the mass markets, coupled with their ability to delivery outstanding solutions to marketers requirements will deliver optimally to the business. I wish them the very best."

Vassal said, "I feel proud and excited to have joined a growing and vibrant organisation like RBNL at a time when the organization is transitioning into a media giant. I respect the vision and culture of the organization, and look forward to taking on new challenges and to contributing towards helping RBNL reach greater heights."

"I am delighted to have joined the dynamic RBNL family. The world of multi-media entertainment has fascinated me and I am eager to the take up this challenging role, and learn and contribute to the best of my ability", Virmani added.

Vassal brings with him close to 15 years of experience, having worked across organisations like Amway, Motorola, Asian Paints and Essel Packaging.

Virmani comes in with over 14 years of experience across general management, marketing and sales at mass consumer focused organisations like Aircel, Pepsi, Airtel, Aptech and STG.

MUMBAI: Reliance Broadcast Network (RBNL) has signed a content deal with Punjab-based Speed Records. The partnership gives RBNL?s business verticals - Big CBS Spark Punjabi and Big FM - an immediate access to the library of Speed Records.

Speed Records boasts of a library with music ranging genres like Sufi, Punjabi, Hip Hop, Contemporary, and featuring music ranging stalwarts to fresh talent with names like Gippy Grewal, Jazzy B, Satinder Sartaj, Amrinder, Honey Singh, Alfaaz, Preet Harpal, Master Saleem, Nacchatar Gill, Geeta Zaildaar and more.

As per the deal, the rights for Big CBS Spark Punjabi are for the Saarc region, while for Big FM, they are for the India.

RBNL said in a statement, ?This alliance allows our audiences immediate access to an enviable music library, featuring some of the best and latest from the Punjabi music industry. With music surfacing as one of the key entertainment preferences during audience insight mapping, we are happy to be upping the ante on it. Through our media platforms ? both Big FM and Big CBS Spark Punjabi, we offer audiences the entertainment that they seek while offering marketers the best ROI for their brands.?

MUMBAI: Big Magic, variety entertainment channel for the core Hindi heartland from the Reliance Broadcast Network (RBNL) stable, is bringing back ?Khulja Sim Sim? (KJSS).

The show is being produced by Big Productions, the television content production division of RBNL.

The game show is an Indian adaptation of the International format ?Let?s Make A Deal?. The channel has acquired the rights for the format from Fremantle.

The show was earlier aired on Star Plus in July 2001. It went on air for over two years and 105 episodes. The first season of the show was hosted by actor Aman Verma while the second season was hosted by Hussain Kuwajerwala that launched in 2004.

The channel has done a ?call for entry? promotion across multiple media, in the Hindi Heartland to invite consumers to participate and get a chance to be on the show. The entire show will be shot in UP and MP with local audiences from across the region participating.

Khullja Sim Sim will be promoted through a multi-media campaign, featuring TV, Radio, OOH, Print, Digital, Cable, Cinema across the Hindi Heartland.

It will be clubbed with 92.7 Big FM to offer an integrated media offering to marketers.

In the game show, the host randomly picks up participants from the studio audience. The participant has to trade between various options and gets the chance to win a jackpot. The participants usually have to weigh the possibility of an offer being made for a valuable prize, or a potential undesirable item, or a ?tai tai? fish.

MUMBAI: Big Magic, Reliance Broadcast Network?s music and entertainment channel for the Hindi heartland, is launching a new talent hunt show ?Mele Ke Big Star? across the markets of UP, MP and Bihar.

The channel has roped in Horlicks as the presenting sponsor, while it is powered by Nutrine. Mortien is the associate sponsor for the show.

?Mele Ke Big Star? provides a platform for local talents in singing, dancing, stunts, mimicry or acrobatics. The show will launch in the third week of May.

Prior to launch, the channel had conducted a pilot test at Magh Mela in Allahabad where over 100 performances were hosted over a two-day period with a live viewership of over 100,000.

The company spokesperson said, "Mela is the most basic form of entertainment which congregates the local inhabitants of a region. Melas put on display the true social fabric of a village. Through our show, we intend to take this talent from the grass root level and nurture it to present it to the country at large. We are not only encouraging local talent which is fast diminishing in the face of other forms of urban entertainment, but we are also connecting with local tastes and sensibilities. ?Mele Ke Big Star? is sure to excite not only the respective regional consumer but also the regional talent which has long sought its due recognition."

40 contestants from across various fairs will participate in the show, wherein 10 will be shortlisted for the grand finale to happen at Nauchandi Mela in Meerut (UP).

According to the official communiqu?, Mele Ke Big Star, is one of its kind opportunity which will not only help the channel to build a long term bond with the consumers but will also amplify this association beyond the host area through Big Magic.

The show will be promoted through TV, radio and print. The show will reach out to approximately 7 million viewers every week on Big Magic, and 2.5 million listeners per week on Big FM, the company said.

MUMBAI: Big CBS has transitioned its youth focussed channel, Big CBS Spark, into a music channel for the youth.

Big CBS, a joint venture between Reliance Broadcast Network Ltd, feels there is a gap in the upmarket audience that the channel can tap into; they want to hear and watch global artistes. Currently, the only channel that has Western music is Vh1.

Big CBS Spark, launched last April, already has a one-year deal with Sony Music. The deal, which can be renewed, will give access to the entire archive of music videos and concerts as well as Sony Music?s upcoming content.

Big CBS is also talking to other labels like Universal to expand the source of its content.

Big CBS business head Vishal Rally said, ?We started the process of beefing up music about a month back. Even earlier the channel had around 30 per cent of music content. We did research. Music is the lifeline of youth. There are very few options for Western music on television.?

With the amount of music content going up, shows like ?90210? have left the channel. The channel recently launched three music based shows - Hip Hop MCs (for rap, hip hop music), Indie Rock Mania (for rock music and independent bands) and Hot Hitz.

The channel defines primetime as 7 pm-midnight. ?We have created music blocks for different genres like pop, rock, world music. At the same time we do have some non music content like the reality show ?Cheaters?. We also have light and comic shows like ?Oblivious? and ?Real TV. Non music content forms around 30 per cent of our primetime lineup,? said Rally.

The channel already has 10-15 per cent local content and aims to increase this to 30-40 per cent. ?We have started to feature college festivals. We want to offer a platform for young and upcoming artists to be showcased in the channel. The focus will be on English rock and pop bands and singers in the country. We are also looking at folk music, which is sadly being ignored. We are also planning to feature musicians from the North East and will do a show around that,? averred Rally.
Big CBS Spark plans to bring international artistes down.

"We will spend the next couple of months observing how the channel fares with youth the core TG being 15-34 SEC A,B. As we are focussing on the youth, the channel will see a use of social media to connect with audiences," said Rally.