Indiantelevision.com Team

(2 July 2008 10:50 pm)

MUMBAI: Viacom18's upcoming Hindi general entertainment channel (GEC) Colors is launching on 21 July.

Starting from 7 pm, the channel will launch with four hours of original programming. The initial focus will be on weekday prime time, driven by the big ticket driver show Fear Factor-Khatron Ke Khiladi at 10 pm every Monday-Thursday. Produced by Endemol India, the one-hour reality show will see Bollywood star Akshay Kumar playing as the host as 13 Bollywood actresses compete with each other.

With the tagline jasbaat ke rang, the channel has put the Hindi movie slot at 4 pm every Sunday while on Saturdays it will have the Sajid Khan-hosted celebrity chat show Sajid's Superstars.

Colors CEO Rajesh Kamat says, “As planned, we will be launching Colors on 21 July. Our main aim is to provide differentiated and disruptive programming to our viewers. We have drama, reality and movies as well. It is a basket of offerings, mixed with all the emotions and colours.”

In the weekday primetime every Monday to Friday at 7 pm, Colors will have a fantasy show Rahe Tera Aashirwad.

Produced by Jay and Kinnari, Mehtaa Rahe Tera Aashirwad is a story of an orphan girl Bhakti who is fighting with evils with the grace of Mata Vaishnodevi.

At 7.30 pm every Monday to Friday, Colors will air fiction based show Bandhan Saat Janamon Ka which revolves around the issue of dowry in Indian marriages. It is produced by Shakuntalam Films.

The channel will highlight the social issue of child marriage with Balika Vadhu – Kacchi Umar Ke Pakke Rishte at 8 pm every Monday to Friday. The daily fiction from Sphere Origins narrates the story of a child bride.

At 8.30 pm Colors has placed the mythological series Jai Shri Krishna, produced by Meenakshi Sagar Productions. It chronicles the growing up years of Krishna.

From Monday to Thursday it will have Jeevan Saathi at 9 pm which is an inter-religion love story. Jeevan Saathi is produced by Playtime Creations, the production house owned by Paresh Rawal, Hemal Thakkar and Swaroop Sampat.

At 9.30 pm, Monday-Thursday Colors will have Mohe Rang De, a period drama set in the backdrop of ‘1942 Quit India Movement’. Mohe Rang De is produced by Deepti Bhatnagar Productions.

With Wizcraft Internatonal, Colors is doing a celebrity chat-show Sajid’s Superstar hosted by Sajid Khan. Sajid’s Superstar will see guests like Anil Kapoor, Farah Khan, Ritiesh Deshmukh, Vivek Oberai, Vidya Balan, Shahid Kapoor, Sanjay Dutt, Akshay Kumar among others.

Colors, the first channel to come out from the joint venture between Viacom and TV18, has an early prime time focus on shows meant for smaller towns which would gradually build into the metro audiences.

Explains Kamat, "Between 7 to 9 pm, we have placed shows that have strong appeal among non-metro masses. The 9-10 pm slot will have content tailored for smaller towns as well as metros. The more urban shows like Fear Factor and Sajid's Superstars are at 10 pm."

Adds Colors programming head Ashvini Yardi: "Hindi general entertainment channels have seen a massive rise in audiences from the smaller towns."

Every Sunday at 4 pm, Colors will show Hindi movie in the segment ‘Blockbuster Movies’. For the movie part, Colors will go for movie syndication.

“Syndication is the need of the hour, as there are not many movies left in the market for acquisition,” avers Kamat.

Colors has acquired flicks like Singh is Kinng (not released yet), Bhootnath, Heyy Baby, Om Shanti Om, One Two Three, Dus Kahanniya, Sunday, Black and White and Welcome among others.

The channel is planning to have a 360 degree marketing plan to support its content. "We will have more than 1000 hoardings across the top 20 cities. We will touch our viewers at malls, trains, bus stations and temples. We will be everywhere. We will be promoting across 35 TV channels," says Kamat.

Colors has also entered into a marketing tie-up with Future Group and McDonalds to promote the channel at Big Bazar, Pantaloons stores and McDonalds chain of restuarants.