Foreign Affairs

But Colors Infinity has come up with a few firsts. Unlike other channels that air old content on multiple repeats, Colors Infinity will only show series that haven’t been viewed on Indian TV during prime time, one show on a fixed day of a week. More importantly, it hits the sweet spot between “binge watching” and viewing one episode at a time. The channel will air three episodes in a go. “Most people aren’t satisfied by watching just one episode,” explains Alia Bhatt, who curated the channel’s content with Karan Johar. Both Bhatt and Johar are fans of American and British shows and are believed to have brought their expertise to the channel’s programming, which includes acclaimed shows such as Fargo, Better Call Saul and Black Mirror. Other English GECs too, are trying to cater to the frenzied interest in foreign shows. Many air the latest seasons in India within hours of their international premiere. For instance HBO India with Game of Thrones and Mad Men on FxIndia.

But piracy continues among fans who prefer to download the shows and watch them at a stretch. However, Arunabh Kumar, founder of the online channel The Viral Fever, believes such sustained efforts will alter the trend. “The semi-binge watching of three episodes at one go is a great crack. And the experience of watching it on TV without the worry of buffering it is a relief.”

Sharlton Menezes, marketing and programming head, Zee Cafe, which continues to air reruns of Friends and Big Bang Theory, believes that due to poor internet speeds, the percentage of downloaders isn’t the majority of the target audience. “A large percentage can be reached out through TV.”

With the best in English entertainment now available to an Indian audience, what does it mean to indigenous content? The exposure will compel Indian producers to churn out local quality content, says Kumar whose company is making a Hindi web series called Pitchers aimed at this same audience. Palia adds that Colors Infinity will venture there too, to create content “made for and with Indians comfortable with speaking in English”. Netflix, one of the world’s most popular destinations for streaming quality TV, has slated its arrival in India for 2016.

Such attempts, however, have been made in the past but unsuccessfully. Take for instance MTV that experimented with indigenous content in 2012 — Rush by Bejoy Nambiar and Bring on the Night by Vishwesh Krishnamoorthy. An indie musician and filmmaker, Krishnamoorthy believes content needs to be backed with the right marketing. “When you launch a new cola, the consumer needs to spot it when he visits a shop. Our show, the way it looked and was made, was not run-of-the-mill, going by the standards of Indian content. It needed to be marketed innovatively,” he says.

But one factor that can cripple the success of English entertainment on Indian TV is censorship. This discourages fans to watch their favourite shows on TV, choosing to stream the unedited version. “Censorship doesn’t affect shows like Friends. But a show like Game of Thrones, where sex and violence are integral to the story, I’d prefer to watch online,” says Kumar.

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