Colors to take on Sunday 11 am slot with cricket-led property

Taking a cue from STAR's Satyamev Jayate experiment that opened an unmarked viewership window for the channel, Colors is gearing up to telecast a cricket-led property to feed the 11 am Sunday slot in a bid to drive viewership. The show is expected to be launched in October.

If weekends have been attracting substantial focus from top Hindi general entertainment channels (GECs) for a while now, the Sunday 11 am slot seems to have become the fresh discovery within that slice.

Taking a cue from STAR's Satyamev Jayate experiment that opened an unmarked viewership window for the channel, Colors is gearing up to telecast a cricket-led property to feed the 11 am Sunday slot in a bid to drive viewership. The show is expected to be launched in October.

According to the market grapevine, the property will be an advertiser-funded programme (AFP) and will be called Chak De Balle!. Interestingly, unlike Satyamev Jayate, which is based on a non-fiction talk show format, the new property on Colors will be a cricket-based fiction show that will run for an approximate 10 episodes. While the overall episodes will be interlinked, every episode will have its own unique story supported by matches that will be played and won. The show will also see the presence of cricketing and non-cricketing celebrities.

A source close to the development says, "The concept of the show goes beyond just cricket. It has all the ingredients of showmanship including cricket, music, romance, tragedy, comedy and fashionable girls. Also, cricket matches, which are an integral part of this show, will be shot at a cricket stadium with real spectators."

It is pertinent to note here that the IPR of the show lies with the recently-launched Cricket Entertainment World Pvt Limited, which specialises in cricket-based entertainment shows. Chak De Balle! is the first project under the banner.

Colors, however, has denied the development. Says a Colors company spokesperson, "We at COLORS are not launching a cricket-led property on Sunday mornings."

Many industry experts are of the view that Satyamev Jayate has created a time band that earlier did not have much traction. Nevertheless, since the launch of the show, any TV ratings during the Sunday morning time band are up by 15 per cent as more people have started tuning in their TV sets during this time.

Undoubtedly, Colors has taken steps in the recent past to introduce differentiated content to its overall weekend line up with shows such as Zindagi Ki Haqeeqat Se Aamna Samna (Sat-Sun 10 pm), Ring Ka King (Sat, Sun 8 pm) and All Is Well With Dr. Ahluwalia. However, the shows could not make the requisite impact on the audience.

"While all these shows are unique concepts, they have not been able to hold audiences together. Therefore, since Chak De Balle! is again a new concept, it will be a big risk for the channel and will be under a performance pressure to attract advertisers on board," says a top media expert on conditions of anonymity.