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There's an upheaval in Indian television. First the recession and industry strikes, followed by the terror attack had the general entertainment channels worried.

Written by Poojapillai

December 8, 2008 12:00 AM IST

4 min read

Don8217;t look now but the channels are changing, is the anticipated big shakeout already here?

There8217;s an upheaval in Indian television. First the recession and industry strikes, followed by the terror attack had the general entertainment channels GECs worried. Now rumours of INX Media8217;s 9X running into financial trouble and being on the verge of a sell-off have set a few more pulses racing in panic. The fact is that in the overcrowded business of television entertainment, it8217;s easy for a channel to become invisible if it doesn8217;t regularly update its content and image. The only way out is for TV channels to 8220;tweak8221; their programming and packaging.

Leading the band is Zee TV, who, in an effort to add some chutzpah to its image, has approached new programming by paying tribute to its core audience 8212; women. The promos of Zee8217;s fresh new look and packaging talk about the Zee Woman who, Business Head Tarun Mehra claims, is not just the traditional domestic goddess that we8217;re so used to seeing on television 8212; she8217;s also a modern woman with very contemporary concerns like her career. 8220;But our target audience is not just the woman,8221; Mehra explains, 8220;We8217;re also trying to reach out to the woman8217;s family, by first connecting with her. After all, the woman is the core of any family.8221;

Star One isn8217;t far behind either. The channel has a distinctly youth-oriented look and feel, given that it airs very 8216;young8217; shows like Dill Mill Gayye and Miley Jab Hum Tum. Executive Vice President and General Manager of Star One, Ravi Menon, explains this is a deliberate strategy. 8220;We8217;re not trying to enter the league of MTV or Channel V,8221; he explains, 8220;We don8217;t want to alienate the family by only catering to a niche, urban, young audience. The idea is to draw the whole family in, even as we tell stories of the youth, because everyone can relate to them.8221;

Anooj Kapoor, Business Head of Sony SAB, says that it is a smart business strategy to aim for a certain image with the viewers. 8220;All brands have to occupy a certain position with the audience,8221; he says, 8220;The consumer should be able to distinguish between one product and the other. If you have an image, he8217;ll come to you with certain expectations, which you can then meet. On the other hand, if he doesn8217;t see you as a distinct brand, you fail to sustain his interest.8221; In fact, for the past three months, SAB has positioned itself as an all-family, comedy channel with hits like Tarak Mehta Ka Ulta Chashma, and Kapoor says that the strategy has worked very well for them. 8220;Over the last three weeks, while ratings of other general entertainment channels fell by 40 per cent we remained steady at 40 gross rating points GRPs.8221;

But Pavan Chawla, head of corporate and channel public relations at 9X, places a lot of importance on packaging. 8220;Content is the core of every channel,8221; he says, 8220;but for a GEC, the name says it all. There is only so much you can do differently, content-wise. So the packaging is also important.8221; Chawla says that 9X is currently looking to revamp its whole packaging and programming in an effort to stick in a highly competitive field and an announcement about the new strategy will be made by the end of the month.

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