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NEW
DELHI: The brand new Pragya channel, an offering of Pragya
Vision Pvt Ltd has disclosed its content package for the first
time, with managing director Meena Tiwari telling indiantelevision.com
that it will be a fresh now approach to lifestyle and spiritualism,
with both categories different from the normal sense in which
they are understood.
 "The
mantra of the channel is "Live Life Positive","
and hastening to add: "But most people confuse between
spiritualism and religion, mixing them, whereas we talk of
spiritualism in terms of positive living, a heady combine
of body mind and soul that has never been approached so far
by any channel."
She
said that the content will be aggressive, with five of the
24 / 7 channel hours being live, and an emphasis of cleansing
cultural garbage that goes in the name of lifestyle and spiritualism.
The
TG is youth. And there will be interactive youth-based programming
at late evening hours, as research shows that the younger
generation finds some quality time at around 10 pm, especially
with the soaps being over by then.
"There
was a great open space for clean living and spiritual content,
which no one seemed to be interested in reaching out to, for
everyone seems to be chasing TRPs, but we decided to go there
and address the hunger for positive living that is seeing
a surge among the youth across the world."
In
other words, says Pragyan Bhattacharya, Programming Head of
the channel, "Lifestyle will not mean all that jazz,
and neither will spiritualism mean Hare Rama Hare Krishna
and darhiwallah babas (scraggy, bearded Godmen).
But
what would be the differentiator?
Bhattacharya
says, "We cannot disclose the entire content package,
but I can give the names of two specific programmes, one being
"Youth Dot Com", sometime around 10 in the night,
which will be live interactive programming where young people
can ask anything from their educational needs to sex lives,
to be answered by specialists."
So
far as lifestyle is concerned, he says that viewers find hardly
anything on men, and this is one area where the channel will
give a solid programming, cutting out a different space that
is neglected.
But
there will be issues of women's empowerment too, as that is
a major area of concern and there is a specific TG for that,
Bhattacharya said.
Bhattacharya,
with 19 years behind him as a journalist in print, agency
as well TV formats, says that this timing is of the essence,
as it is late hours, which the research shows is when young
people are getting to wind up the day and have a larger attention
span for something positive.
Yes,
there will be yoga, but within the context of the sort of
positive life that is indicated in Ayurveda: "The western
concept is medicine, which is a science of cure, whereas our
approach is Ayur-Veda, or Life Science.
He
explains the difference in attitude: "While they believe
in a curative science called medicine, we are trying to project
a lifestyle that is holistic and positive living which would
avoid falling ill - things that Susrut, Charak and other ancient
seers showed the path to.
"This
means if we do a food programme it will not be about cooking
Hyderabadi byriyani but about the value of, say fresh sprouts,"
he explains.
There
would be programmes on quitting smoking or cutting down alcohol
intake, he says, but would such a tutoring approach not bounce?
Bhattacharya
smiles: "That is where we are going to create our space,
because we know the moment one starts naseehat (lecturing),
people switch off, so though I am unable to disclose all,
the same things would be told in a manner that people will
find entertaining.
Bhattacharya
says that at 42, he is the oldest member in the entire team
barring the MD, which means that the team is completely clued
on to what the youth wants, and the cohesiveness of the team
stems from some management practices like everyone sharing
common lunch at common tables, from the boss downwards.
The
channel with a difference, as they claim to become, will have
astrology, but not predictive astrology.
"It
will be a scientific approach with a level of science that
no astrology programming has attempted so far," Bhattacharya
claimed.
But
people want predictions all the time, so why should they not
switch over the Sandeep Kochar's programme?
Bhattacharya
clarifies that of course, if viewers ask for specific predictions,
their query would have to be satisfied, but on its own, the
channel is against predictive astrology, rather telling the
persons what are the positives and the impediments at a given
point of time in achieving their goals and how to reach that
goal, not when they'd be able to do so.
The
company has tied up with some top quality global figures as
experts on management, health, positive living and so forth,
but those disclosures would come closer to the formal launch,
sometime in October.
The
affiliate sales people have gone on a gear-five drive already
for a strong distribution network, and almost all the big
MSOs have been signed on, company officials said.
Marketing
would be a rather tricky issue, with many kinds of products
perhaps being reluctant to come to a platform that nurture
older and more sane values, but tie-ups have started.
"We
want to make a clear statement, however, that there will be
certain kind of products for which even disguised ads will
not be acceptable," they held, adding that there is a
huge kitty of alternative lifestyle-related products and services
that have shown clear interest in the channel already.
Also
Read:
Pragya
channel to launch by mid-September
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