Sab refreshes programming lineup

Indiantelevision.com Team

(12 March 2009 8:15 pm)

MUMBAI: Sab is reshuffling its primetime programming. Late last month it made a foray into linear horror comedy when it launched Bhootwalla Serial in the 10 pm slot. Today, the channel's management announced that it would be taking the leap into the gangster comedy genre by airing Gunwaale Dulhaniyan Le Jaayenge (GDLJ) in the 9:30 pm slot come 16 March.

Says Sab business head Anooj Kapoor, "Post IPL, we will be introducing a hospital comedy and a courtroom comedy. This apart we will be bringing in leading stars like Smriti Iraani, Shekhar Suman and Jaspal Bhatti to frontline shows."

GDLJ will be replacing Lo ho gayi Pooja iss ghar ki. Kapoor clarifies that the serial is being pulled off because the show had run its course over the past nine months, having helped the channel get its new positioning as one for family viewing.

GDLJ follows the crazy antics of a gangster family made up of three generations caught in the whirlwind of their interpretations of good vs bad deeds. The star cast includes Sudhir Pandey, Himani Shivpuri. Vijay Kashyap and Sushmita Mukerjee.

Says Kapoor, "We at Sab have always been at the forefront of pioneering programming. After India's first horror comedy, we are now brining you India's first gangster comedy."

The show will be coming up against Shakuntala (Star One), Ramayan (NDTV Imagine), Ghar ek sapna ( Sahara One), Mere ghar aayi ek nanhi pari (Colors), Saath Phere (Zee TV), Ek safar aisa…kabhie socha na tha (Sony) and Namak Haram (Real).

Kapoor dismisses the competition from these shows. Says he, "In today's time when everything is so negative and there is more negativity in soaps, it's such a refreshing change for consumers to watch only comedy, which functions as a stress buster for them."

He points out to the growth in women audiences tuning into the channel, specially in the SEC A,B,C categories with their number going up 118 per cent from August 2008.

Additionally he is at pains to elaborate the kind of success that Sab has achieved. "Other GECs have been showing soaps, mythology and reality content. Our strategy was to differentiate through innovation, family comedies. It has worked for us. In primetime, Sab has actually gone up from 10 GRPs in August 2008 to 22 GRPs now. Our all day GRPs are at 48. It's quite an achievement for a channel with a fraction of the budget that the mainline GECs have had," elaborates Kapoor.

The channel's advertising inventory is going full, adds Kapoor.