Sony to unleash two more mega serials

Sony Entertainment Television Asia is adding further zest to its weeknight schedule, as the fight for eyeballs intensifies.

With the departure of its once hugely popular show ‘Jassi Jaisi Koi Nahi’, the channel has pulled out all the stops to keep viewers glued to the channel throughout the summer season.

The two new additions namely UTV�۪s ��Kabhi Tho Nazar Milao�۪ and Sri Adhikari Brothers ��Rishton Ki Dor�۪ will takeover the current 19:00-20:00 band from later this month.

Both ��Kabhi Tho Nazar Milao�۪ and ��Rishton Ki Dor�۪ will strengthen the channel’s weeknight schedule. Only recently ‘Aisa Des Hai Mera’ and ‘Thodi Khushi Thode Gham’ were launched by the channel in the 21:00-22:00.

SET COO, N P Singh said that this will help the channel in consolidating its all day (Gross Rating Points) GRPs, which as would be recalled, was the first front where the channel had started losing to ZEE TV. Now with original programming spread across the day, the channel does have something to look forward to on that front.

Singh is content with the performance of step one ��� the Friday block (introduction of ‘Fear Factor India’ & ‘Kandy Floss’) and the feedback of step two ��� the 21:00 – 22:00 weekday shows so far. He said, ���Fear Factor India has done very well for us. The show is averaging 3 to 4 and for a one-hour, these are good numbers. Also, the idea to take ��CID�۪ in a one-hour format has also delivered with the show constantly giving a 3 plus. As for the new weekday shows, its still early to talk in terms of numbers, but the shows have got some great feedback so far.�۝

Furthermore, the channel is also launching the second series of ‘Deal Ya No Deal’ with new host Rajeev Khandelwal. The previous host Mandira Bedi has moved to other Sony projects. The new series will be shown Fridays at 20:00 resulting in ‘Kandy Floss’ being shifted to the late night Friday slot of 23:00.

Speaking on how the channel is managing the production of new shows in short notices, he said, ���The programming structure, which has Anupama Mandloi responsible for on-air programming and Gursheel Walia taking care of content development is paying off. Plus we have ensured that we have paced these shows well so even though there are production challenges that come with this scale of new properties, we have been able to cope with them well.�۝

��Kabhi Tho Nazar Milao�۪ and ��Rishton Ki Dor�۪ both go on air on Monday 15th May.