Oggy and the Cockroaches to be back on Nickelodeon

The show is currently being aired on Cartoon Network and Nick will start airing it from January 1. Viacom18 has also decided to shift Nickelodeon's popular show, 'Pakdam Pakdai' to Sonic.

In the recent development from Viacom18's kids' division, Nickelodeon has acquired the rights to air 'Oggy and the Cockroaches'. The channel had lost out the property to Cartoon Network in 2012.

Nickelodeon had started airing 'Oggy and the Cockroaches' in 2009. When entered India, 'Oggy et les Cafards' the french cartoon series was a silent show. The Viacom18 channel, under the leadership of Nina Elavia Jaipuria (EVP and business head, Kids Cluster, Viacom18) not only got the series to have dubbed dialogues, it also emerged as one of the most popular cartoon series in the country.

The channel, Jaipuria admits, had seen a fall in viewership after Oggy was acquired by the Turner International India channel. However, now that it has bought the property back, it will stay with Nick for atleast four years, she shares. "Starting January 1, 2015, Oggy and the Cockroaches will air on Nickelodeon. We will give the property a new avataar," she says.

The channel will soon roll out three promos on television, promoting the fact that the channel (Nickelodeon) and the show (Oggy and the Cockroaches) are "made for each other".

Besides, adding to the Christmas cheer and fervor will be a "high-decibel" consumer campaign called, 'Lift your Gift'. The channel has also announced the premiere of Motu Patlu's fifth movie, titled 'Khazaane ki Race' in January. The movie is made exclusively for television and aims to up the entertainment quotient of Nickelodeon.

As a part of the franchise's future plans, 'Pakdam Pakdai', the action packed chase-comedy will shift to Sonic (Viacom18's three-year old channel), starting December 22. This is in line with Sonic's strategy to bring alive the thought of "Action ka tevar with Comedy ka flavor." Looking at further building the Pakdam Pakdai franchise, the first movie called 'Pakdam Pakdai - Don v/s Billiman' will air on Sonic on December 25 at 11.30 am.

"This is a strategic move. Kids who are already following 'Pakdam Pakdai' will shift to Sonic with the show and end up sampling more shows on the channel. This will help grow Sonic," Jaipuria adds.

Adding to the supersonic line-up will be Sci -Fi Santa and all new episodes of 'Power Rangers' with an array of new shows like 'Rimba Racer', 'Mini Ninjas' and 'Jungle Bunch'.