The Hindu Business Line : SET banks on new content to catch up with Star Plus

SONY Entertainment Television (SET), admittedly is in the number two slot in the general entertainment genre, but is confident that its lighter, peppier and younger programming is helping it to inch closer to Star Plus.

The gap between Star Plus, the number one general entertainment channel, and Sony is reducing rapidly, says Mr Sunil Lulla, Executive Vice-President, SET.

If statistics can be believed, Sony has recorded a 26 per cent growth in viewership in the one-year period ended June 2004.

"Sony is emerging as a dominant distinctive viewing alternative with a kind of programming mix that includes Jassi, Ayushman, Hum 2 Hain Na and now with the launch of Indian Idol,'' Mr Lulla said.

"The emerging programming mix has less texture of melodrama. We are developing thriller and crime kind of programming and building for reality and interactive component in programming,'' he said.

Sony's decision to launch the Indian version of Idol, a reality entertainment programme, is to position the channel as an alternative to the number one.

"Market after market, this property has driven viewership. We are hoping this will give us the momentum,'' he said.

Children's programming is also an emerging genre in India. "We are hoping to draw in kids with our Hum 2 Hain Na,'' he said.

Hum 2 Hain Na features a pair of twin sisters and a dog. Kids' programming, according to him, is not confined to children but also brings in viewers from other generations too.

Mr Lulla agrees that kids programming may not dominate in terms of revenue but is a building block for larger prime-time viewing.

Prime-time slot continues to bring in bulk of revenues for both Sony as well as Star Plus. This is evident from the fact that the two channels have advanced the prime-time slot to commence from 8 p.m. If Star Plus has introduced Dekho Magar Pyar Se to cater to a teenage audience, Sony has introduced Hum 2 Hain Na at the same slot.

According to Mr Ajay Vidyasagar, Senior Vice President-Marketing and Communication, Star India, Dekho Magar Pyar Se will help Star Plus expand its prime-time zone and drive TRPs (television rating points) up.

Notwithstanding the changes in programming mix, distribution continues to be a critical issue despite the failure of conditional access system (CAS).

"There is no doubt that there is a need for a transparency in distribution,'' said Mr Lulla. Currently, there are 250 million homes of which 85 million homes have television with terrestrial connections. Of these, 42 million homes are hooked up to the cable and satellite system by the cable industry that has seen enormous growth over the years.

Mr Jagjit Singh Kohli, Chief Executive Officer, ETC Networks Ltd, also corroborates his view. According to him, distribution infrastructure remains inadequate to cope with the launch of new channels.

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