The Hindi-language web, announced Monday, comes from Viacom 18 Media, the joint venture between Viacom and Indian entertainment conglom Network18.

The general entertainment sector is already teeming with channels and ratings of many are falling as the audience is spread thinner. But Viacom views having a presence in a country with a 1.3 billion population as vital; it was a key reason for merging its Indian businesses with TV18 last year (Daily Variety, May 23).

"Differentiation and disruption are going to be the drivers of Colors' launch strategy to challenge the status quo in this segment -- be it programming, marketing and distribution," said channel CEO Rajesh Kamat. "Colors is going to promote 'cohesive viewing' in a family, through shows and concepts that have universal appeal."

"The Fear Factor -- Khatron ke Khiladi," a local adaptation of the format, will be one of Colors' tentpole shows. A 16-episode first season, fronted by Bollywood action star Akshay Kumar, is billed as the biggest action format show that Indian viewers will have ever seen.

"Viacom's strength in content creation and building successful entertainment brands, combined with Network18's expertise in building successful media businesses in India across platforms, give Colors an unparalleled advantage," said Amit Jain, exec VP and managing director of MTV Networks India, China & South East Asia.

The hype sounds familiar to Indian viewers who are spoiled for choice as the sub-continent's TV landscape becomes ever more fragmented. Established nets have launched flanking channels like defensive walls around their tired drama offerings and major newcomers have bowed general entertainment webs.

Despite ratings declines and the disproportionately large share of the ad market held by News Corp.'s Star Plus and Star One, Sony Entertainment Television, Zee and Sahara One are attracting imitators.

In December former Star boss Peter Mukerjea launched 9X (Daily Variety, Jan. 6) under his INX shingle. That was followed in January by NDTV Imagine, from another ex-Star chief, Sameer Nair, backed by Universal's Indian business partner, the savvy NDTV group.

Last week Indian media circles were buzzing with two new pieces of info from the ratings services.

First was the news that auds for the general entertainment webs took another tumble as tens of millions of Indians tuned in to the Indian Premier League cricket, which plays for six weeks smack in the middle of traditional evening primetime.

Second, 9X continued its steady ratings climb to become the No. 3 channel in cable and satellite households in two key demos. That puts it behind only Star Plus and Zee and ahead of newcomer NDTV Imagine and established players SET, Star One and Sahara.

However, this is not deterring Hollywood. Time Warner's Turner Broadcasting System is backing local group Miditech/Alva Bros. in a general entertainment channel, and will also launch its own Hollywood TV channel later this year (Daily Variety, April 11).

Unveiling those ventures last month, Turner's Asia Pacific prexy Steve Marcopoto gave an idea of the prize at stake when he said, "India will become the biggest market in the region this year, surpassing Japan."

© Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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