Colors to continue with Bigg Boss at 9 pm

The Mumbai High Court has granted a stay to the MIB order, which required Colors to shift its primetime show, Bigg Boss, to the 11 pm time band.

On November 17, the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB) had asked Colors to shift reality show, Bigg Boss to the 'adult viewing time band' of 11 pm-5 am, instead of its current 9 pm-10 pm time band. Colors filed a petition in the Mumbai High Court on November 18, challenging the MIB's decision. Now, the Mumbai High court has chosen to stay the MIB order until November 22, Monday.

Thus, Colors will continue to air Bigg Boss in the 9 pm primetime slot until the next hearing, on November 22.

The bench that passed the stay order after hearing the petition comprised judges J Deshmukh and J Deshpande. Naik Paranjpe is the law firm that is fighting the case for Colors, wherein the council consists of senior advocate, S P Chinoy along with Venkatesh Dhond, Vineet Naik and Ameet Naik.

The Information and Broadcasting Ministry, on Wednesday, had asked both Colors and Imagine TV to air their respective shows, Big Boss and Rakhi Ka Insaaf after 11 pm. The decision was taken after the Ministry received several complaints from viewers and women groups that these shows amounted to invasion of privacy and were vulgar in their content, and therefore, should not be aired during family viewing time.

The MIB had also asked news channels not to carry any excerpts of the two reality shows, while directing Colors and Imagine TV to carry bands showing "Not suitable for children".

However, despite the decision, Colors went ahead and aired the show in the 9 pm slot yesterday, when Baywatch queen, Pamela Anderson walked on-board to be welcomed by the inmates of the Bigg Boss house.

As the industry waits and watches for further developments, it seems that if Bigg Boss does get shifted to late primetime, Colors' loss could well be Sony's gain. That's because audiences are likely to drift to Kaun Banega Crorepati, the Amitabh Bachchan helmed blockbuster property on Sony, which is aired in the 9 pm time band.