| BANGKOK:
And then there were 10. Another Hindi general entertainment channel is readying
its entry into the ranks of an ever expanding list and it goes by the name Colors. Viacom
18 chose Thailand’s capital to announce the brand name of its upcoming Hindi
GEC and declared Colors will be launching in July. Headlining
the event was Akshay Kumar, Bollywood action star and host of the channel’s
initial flagship show Fear Factor – Khatron Ke Khiladi. Fear Factor
is planned across 16 episodes.
 |
|
Click for bigger pic
|
Stressing
that differentiation and disruption are the two key underpinnings of his channel,
CEO Rajesh Kamat says, “Differentiation and disruption are going to be the
drivers of Colors’ launch strategy to challenge the status quo in this segment
– be it programming, marketing and distribution.” Kamat
further adds, “Colors is going to promote ‘cohesive viewing’ in
a family, through shows and concepts that have universal appeal.”
Kamat used
the brand name announcement to showcase two shows that he says best represented
the core DNA of his channel.  Differentiation
– Mohe Rang De, a big budget fiction show set in 1942 in pre-independence
India.
Disruption
– The channel’s version of Fear Factor, the Endemol format that
was first ‘Indianised’ by Sony Entertainment Television India, is being
mounted for the small screen on a scale never seen before in the country, Kamat
asserts. Adding
glamour to this version of Fear Factor is the fact that 13 Indian celebs
from the world of entertainment and fashion have been brought together for the
show. Yana Gupta, Aditi Govatrikar, Pooja Bedi, Sonali Kulkarni, Tapur Chatterjee,
Tupur Chatterjee, Sayali Bhagat, Nethra Raghuraman, Anjana Sukjani, Dipannita
Sharma, Payal Rohtagi and Meghna Naidu amongst others. The show will be shot entirely
in South Africa, over a period of one month and is being produced by Endemol India,
the production company that Kamat headed before his move to Viacom 18.
 Colors
programming head Ashvini Yardi says the channel would offer an entire spectrum
of emotions to viewers, well captured in its tagline – ‘Jasbaat Ke Rang’.
“Colors'
programming will lend a new hue to the existing Hindi general entertainment category
with a variety of great content across genres covering the entire spectrum of
emotions. The programming mix endeavours to be relevant to today’s evolving
viewers who have a deep rooted desire to escape to their fantasy world, while
still remaining within the realm of reality,” Yardi adds.
In response
to a query by Indiantelevision.com, Kamat states that the channel’s
distribution will be managed by an in-house team headed by Sanjeev Hiremath, the
long serving head of distribution, licensing and merchandising and network development
for MTV Networks, as too the team from Network 18. Viacom
18 has the concepts in place. How well that translates into ratings success when
the Hindi GEC with the largest ever launch budget in Indian broadcast history
goes on air will be watched with interest. It’s a go for broke strategy that
Kamat, with the combined power of Viacom and Network 18 behind him, has chosen.
Fear
is certainly not the factor that has colored the tale of this particular channel
launch. | 
