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SET ready to overhaul content, eyes No 2 slot

Savio G Pinto in Mumbai

In a bid to bridge the gap with rival channel Star Plus, Sony Entertainment Television is revamping its channel content and plans some big ticket moves in the near future.

The channel has undertaken some initiatives to beef up its programming, with some new launches slotted in the month of November.

Sunil Lulla, executive vice-president, SET India, said: "The new shows are designed to strengthen our prime time franchise, which is the 8-10 pm band. We plan to give viewers variety, with the shows appealing to the entire family, and hope to bring in new audiences."

"We see ourselves as being a power brand and, for the moment, would like to be at least a very powerful number two among channels," he added.

The channel is banking heavily on soaps from the Balaji Telefilms stable to spearhead its new initiative, although it is creating a fairly diversified content portfolio from a slew of other production houses as well.

It is reworking and making the storyline of its two main soaps - Kutumb and Kusum - stronger in a bid to bring back the audiences and increase the ratings of these two shows which are being positioned as channel drivers, said Lulla. The channel also has two other shows from Balaji - Kya Hadsa Kya Haqeeqat and Kuch Jhuki Palke.

"We would extend our relationship with Balaji in the coming months according to the channel needs but we see them as an important player in our overall strategy," he added.

The channel is also launching four new shows of different genres this week. It already launched a game show Bachke Rehna recently.

Additionally, buoyed by the success of the movie Lagaan, which it aired recently, Sony has also lined up a slew of blockbuster movies as part of its weekend programming for November.

The channel will air movies like the Amitabh Bachchan-starrer Aks, and Chori Chori Chupke Chupke later this month.

Filhaal and Mohabbatein have been telecast over the past few weekends.

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