AXN gets five new shows to India

Tying up with CBS Studios, the channel has got five fiction shows in its kitty, three months after a content deal with BBC Studios.

AXN India, the English entertainment channel from Multi Screen Media (MSM), has tied up with CBS Studios for a content deal. With this, the channel gets telecast rights of five fiction shows in India, including Elementary, Beauty and The Beast, Blue Bloods, Hawaii Five-0 and Reckless.

The first one to appear on the channel will be Elementary and Beauty and The Beast on January, 27. The channel has already aired other international franchises from the CBS stable including CSI: Crime Scene Investigation and NCIS: Los Angeles. The new shows will add about 100 hours of exclusive content to the channel's library annually.

Reckless is a new show, which will be telecast in the US shortly. AXN will air the show closer to the US launch. The other four shows will be simulcast with the US in September. Blue Bloods and Hawaii Five-0 will be in their respective fifth seasons. On the other hand, the respective second seasons for Beauty and the Beast and Elementary will aired in the US now. AXN India will telecast Seasons 1 and 2 in stripped format.

Suniil Punjabi, business head, AXN India, says, "The deal is for as many seasons that happen in the US. It can be taken up by other networks two years after we have telecast it. For example, for Supernatural, anyone can pick between Seasons 1-6. There isn't too much stat value to it, since it's old."

He suggests that obviously the new content is preferred over the library content. The channel has recently boosted its content with 15 new fiction shows. "American Ninja Warrior, another new show, did phenomenally well and we will be doing Season 2 now," adds Punjabi.

The broadcaster's recent content deal with BBC Studios (in October, 2013) provides it more than 60 hours of BBC's factual entertainment and drama programmes. Titles comprise four series of Top Gear, two series Orphan Black and three series of Sherlock. The deal includes the presale of Top Gear (series 21 and 22), Orphan Black (series two), and Sherlock (series three).