MUMBAI: The fresh entrant in the Hindi general entertainment channel (GEC) space - &TV from the Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd’s (Zeel) stable has rolled up its sleeves and is prepping to take competition head on by dishing out a mixed platter of fresh programming content.
The channel is looking at strengthening its offering with the launch of four new shows across genres namely romantic, fantasy, horror, and socio-mythological, keeping in line with its strategy to keep the content contemporary and different.
At the helm is &TV business head Rajesh Iyer, who says that each of the new shows will appeal to a particular part of society and cater to a particular market.
The channel will kick-start the series of new launches with the romantic show Ye Kahan Aa Gaye Hum on 26 October from Ekta Kapoor’s Balaji Telefilms. Incidentally, this is Balaji Telefilms’ maiden show for the channel. This friendship and love saga revolves around a successful singer and showcases the success story of a music empire built by his father. The show will be aired from Monday - Friday at 9:30 pm and will replace Razia Sultan. The channel has roped in Ching and Multani Chavanprash as the co-powered by sponsors for the show.
Speaking to Indiantelevision.com, Iyer says, “This the first time that &TV is is working with Balaji Telefilms but Ekta has worked with Zee before, therefore the experience has been fantastic and our relationship goes much beyond just one particular show.”
Strengthening the weekend line-up, &TV will be launching its first horror show titled Darr… Sabko Lagta Hai with Bipasha Basu as narrator. Set to go on air from 31 October, the show will air on Saturdays and Sundays at 10 pm. It has been produced by Reel Life Entertainment and will showcase stories about the paranormal, supernatural, spirits, ghosts and the unseen, which have the potential to send shivers down the spine with unsuspecting turns and nail-biting twists.
With the launch of Darr… Sabko Lagta Hai, the channel will be further firming up its weekend prime time band from 8 pm onwards. It may be recalled that in August, the channel launched two new weekend shows namely the game show Deal or No Deal (8 pm) hosted by Ronit Roy and the crime investigative series Agent Raghav (9 pm).
Talking about the current weekend programming, Iyer says, “ - Deal or No Deal and Agent Raghav have done reasonably well and we are very happy with the current growth and performance of both the shows. Going forward, we are definitely looking at improving the shows’ performances.”
The third new show will be in the fantasy genre called Adhuri Kahani Hamari. This saga of reincarnation and love has been produced by Four Lions Films and will launch on 16 November. It will be aired from Monday to Friday at 7:30 pm and will replace the show Badii Devrani.
Foraying into the socio-mythological genre, &TV will be launching its fourth new show - Santoshi Maa staring Ratan Rajput. The show, which is produced by Rashmi Sharma Productions, will focus on the belief of a devotee in Maa Santoshi and how the goddess helps her overcome obstacles in life. The show is slated to launch in November. However, the date and time slot have not yet been firmed up by the channel.
Iyer says, “The four new shows are across different genres ranging from romance, to horror to fantasy to socio-mytho and with these, our aim is to up the number of original shows on our channel.”
Since its launch in March this year, &TV has unleashed shows of varied new concepts and story ideas. Speaking on the channel’s content strategy, Iyer says, “From a brand perspective, we have been very clear from the beginning. Our sole goal is to give differentiated content to the audience and we want to keep doing so. Our strategy is to keep the content contemporary and differentiated, these are the two key things that we look for when chalking out our programming. Our aim is to offer shows that will appeal to a different parts of society across different markets. There is no formula for success, we have to put out our best and take it from there.”
With as many as four new shows, the expectations are riding high. “There is lot of hard work and effort, which has been put in on the shows from the team and we hope to put up a great show,” Iyer adds.
The channel is looking at all four new shows as finite stories, which will reach its logical conclusions. Not believing in the concept of yanking non-performing shows off air mid-way, Iyer says that if a story ends, it has to reach its logical end and when it does, they end the story.
Going full throttle on promotions, mass media campaigns across print, television, outdoor, radio and digital will be unleashed. “We have kick started road shows with lead artists,” informs Iyer.
With Hindi GECs spurting out new content during the festive season, Zeel’s newest baby &TV is poised to push its way through the clutter with its new programming salvos.
