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.