Earlier, music shows accounted for 90 per cent of the channel’s programming, while other shows accounted for the remaining 10 per cent.

New reality shows will include game shows like Exhausted and Kidnap, a blind dating show, Dare to Date, and Lola Sunday, Campus Blog, and School Of Cool aimed at college-going youth.

The Channel has roped in production house, Endemol, to produce their main show, Exhausted. In the show, participants will have to complete a list of tasks for 48 hours, without sleep.

Channel V’s General Manager, Prem Kamath said, “In the first quarter itself, we have launched five new shows. This revamp would help us differentiate far more significantly.”

He also said that music channels have to constantly reinvent to keep their target audience intact.

“We were one of the first few music channels to air reality shows, we have just extended the content keeping in mind the current trend. Also, though we
have reduced the content of music but the percentage still remains high,” he further added.

In a booming TV media market, Channel V has a market share of only 8 per cent, which has increased marginally from 6 per cent.

This is the fifth time in five years that Channel V has gone in for a revamp. A major reason its revamp plans do not work is because it has been slow to respond to audience tastes.

The channel’s  main rival, MTV, was quick to adapt to local tastes after its launch. The channel quickly moved towards Hindi programming when it realized that international music was not drawing in audiences.

Despite being the first channel in India to launch a reality show, Coke [V] Popstars, in 2002, the channel was not able to cash in on the reality show boom.

MTV launched its reality show, MTV Roadies, in 2003, which is in its sixth season now.

Channel V is now making an attempt to reclaim lost ground in reality shows, when the novelty factor has been long eroded.

Rakhi Sawant and Elesh Parujanwala: No Prada, no Jimmy Choos. Babies are the latest accessories!

The show is the Hindi version of the hit international show, The Baby Borrowers, by Love Productions.

Pati, Patni Aur Woh will be produced by BBC Worldwide Productions India.

In the show, five couples between the ages of 16-19 babysit an infant for three days and then move on to look after toddlers, pre-teens, teenagers and finally an elderly person.

The Indian version will see the couples spend one complete month in a closed environment, which will be under surveillance 24X7.

Gurmeet Chaudhary and Debina Bonnerjee, Shilpa Saklani and Apurva Agnihotri, Rakhi Sawant and Elesh Parujanwala, newly-wed Juhi Parmar and Sachin Shroff, Mouni Roy and Gaurav Chopra are the five celebrity couples who will be participating in Pati, Patni Aur Woh.

“‘Patni, Patni Aur Woh promises to be an emotional rollercoaster through many unique situations, each handled differently by the various couples!,” said Shailja Kejriwal, EVP Content, NDTV Imagine, during the launch of the show.

Rakhi Sawant and Elesh Parunjanwala have different takes on the Pati, Patni Aur Woh show.

Elesh has been quoted as saying that “I am glad being a part of these preparations, as eventually it has to happen. The reel-life dad adds that in real life, he’d be happy with either a boy or a girl for his first child as it is God’s gift. I would like to have a baby girl.”

Rakhi Sawant, on the other hand, said when asked about more details of the show, “I don’t know. All I know is that I am going in a house just to have a picnic for one month.”

Mum’s the word about the babies though. I wonder what kind of people would want to pass around their babies on a reality show, especially the kind packed with hysterical celebrities.

Prashant Samadhar, Raghu Ram, and Neha Bhasin in the Sitaron Ko Choona Hai show

Sitaron Ko Choona Hai, a music talent reality show, will be aired from March 9, 2009.  In the show, twelve young singers will be placed in a music academy to be groomed as exceptional singers.

The academy will be run by a strict Head, Raghu Ram (MTV Roadies), who will ensure that the participants realise their full potential.

Raghu Ram will be assisted by voice coach, Prashant Samadhar and Viva singer Neha Bhasin, who will guide the participants in aspects of performance.

Contestants will be judged not just for their singing skills, but also for performance, and choreography.

The other show, Ninja Pandav, a fantasy adventure, will go on air from March 13, 2009. The show is about five pandavs (in contemporary times) who flee from a Himalayan monastery to Mumbai, to escape from Black Ninjas. Their aim is to protect a powerful prism from the Black Ninjas.

Real Global Broadcasting (RGB)’s new Hindi entertainment channel, Real, was launched on March 2, 2009.

The Real channel is a 50:50 joint venture between Turner International and Alva Brothers Entertainment.

From March 2, 2009 onwards, the Real channel started airing programmes that comprise reality shows, human dramas, and real life stories. The USP of the Real channel is said to be their focus on ‘Real People’ and ‘Real Stories’ to create ‘Real Entertainment’, according to the Alva Brothers Entertainment co-promoter and director Niret Alva.

Niret Alva also said that the channel is aimed at Neo Indians, who are urban oriented and broad minded.

On offer are a weekly game quiz Poker Face, Vicky Ki Taxi, weekly drama Hindi Hai Hum, and reality show, Sarkaar Ki Duniya.

Poker Face, an adaptation of an UK game show with the same name, will be anchored by Sharman Joshi. In the game, contestants compete for a prize of Rs 1 crore every week. They need not know the right answers and can bluff their way through the game, or fold to take home the winnings they have made so far.

Sarkaar Ki Duniya is a one-hour Monday-to-Friday reality show in which 18 people live on a remote island. The island is run by an autocratic sarkar (Ashutosh Rana). The islanders are asked by the sarkar to perform certain island-friendly tasks, for which they earn money, in a fake currency. Each week, the contestant who has made the lowest amount of money is evicted.

Hindi Hai Hum that runs Monday to Thursday is the story of a bunch of people who join an English-language class in the belief that learning the English language will remove all the impediments that people from small towns face to enjoy the good life.

The channel will be available on digital plaforms and cable systems, and can be down linked from IntelSat-10, 68.5 Degree East.

Turner International also plans to launch an English channel soon, which will offer a mix of Hollywood movies and popular serials.

The six-episode show will be aired on NDTV Imagine, at 10 PM every Saturday.

The Knights and Angels reality show, is a hunt for talented, sporty, cheerful cheerleaders with good dancing skills for the Kolkata Knight Riders team.

Six cheerleaders will be chosen out of 24 contestants who have been shortlisted after auditions in Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, and Bangalore.

Shahrukh Khan with the 24 contestants of his Knights and Angels reality show

The names of the 24 contestants who have been selected are:

Pranalika C Arya, Rupali Kantharia, Natasha Ramaseshan, Nikita Agarwal, Sanna Chirawawala, Sneha Parikh, Kaajal R Chandani, Sunanda Hiroo, Prathna Shah, Nisha Rizvi, Rekha Rana, Shruti Bhadekar, Samyukta S, Leena S Puthran, Geena Jha, Suhani Sharma, Srishti Gupta, Ananya Bera, Ruhi Kumari, Shilpa Vashist, Srishti Bhatia, Ritika Chibber, Mohak Nanda, and Priji.

Purab Kohli will host the Knights and Angels reality show

Knights and Angels will be hosted by actor Purab Kohli, last seen in the hit movie Rock On. Actress Anushka Sharma, who made her debut opposite Shahrukh Khan in Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi, will be a celebrity judge in the first episode of Knights and Angels.

Saurav Ganguly, ex-caption of the Indian cricket team and captain of the Kolkata Knight Riders will be the main judge on the show.

The 24 shortlisted contestants will be trained and mentored by Shiamak Davar.

Shiamak Davar is the highly successful choreographer of  Dil To Pagal Hai, Dhoom 2, Bunty Aur Babli, and the recent Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi.

Talking about the Knights and Angels reality show, Shahrukh Khan, co-owner of Kolkata Knight Riders, said, “Cricket is a perfect blend of hard work and entertainment. We are very excited about the whole challenge of finding the best cheerleading squad for our Knights. These girls will become a key part in our quest for victory this season. The competition is tough and the boys will need all the support they can get on-field. All the girls have the right attitude, energy and enthusiasm.”

The winner of Knights and Angels will lead the six-member cheerleading team of the Kolkata Knight Riders.

Shahrukh Khan recently launched Ghar Ki Baat Hai on NDTV Imagine. The sitcom is based on the yesteryears popular sitcom Yeh Jo Hai Zindagi.

Meanwhile, Salman Khan is set to come back with Season 2 of the hit show Dus Ka Dum.

Channel V Launchpad 3 reality show

In January 2009, bands were called for auditions from all over the country. Finally seven bands, Faridkot, Reverse Polarity, Cassini’s Division, Blank Noise, Workshop, Circus, and Prachir, were shortlisted. These seven bands entered the House of Rock on February 7, 2009, where they will stay for ten days and perform challenging tasks to win the contest.

During the ten days, the bands will be totally disconnected from the outer world. The seven bands will be trained and mentored by Vishal Dadlani and provided a jam room to make their music.

On his stay in the house, IP Singh, vocalist of Faridkot commented, “It’s good being here, it’s definitely better than working at the office, and we are doing what we like here – making music.”

Faridkot have also been nominated for the Jack Daniel’s Rock Awards to be held in coming weeks for their song Madhav. ” I don’t think we’ll be able to attend that,” Singh said.

One of the tasks given to the seven bands on Day One was to voluntarily pick out one word and make a song out of it in ten minutes. Songs were made on words like Mummy (Faridkot), Pappu (Prachir), Waxing (Cassini’s Division), Bra (Reverse Polarity), Boyfriend (Blank Noise), 420 (Workshop).

There are some band members who have to sit for exams in a few weeks time. Despite that they are completely focused on their music.

The bands will also perform three gigs at the Blue Frog, on February 2, 5, and 9, 2009. They will be judged by a jury comprising Vishal Dadlani, SHAA’IR + FUNC, Ashutosh Phatak, Dhruv Ghanekar, Shekhar, and Raghu Dikshit.

The band that wins the Channel V Launchpad 3 reality show will get to cut an album, secure a record label deal, publish their photo on the cover of Rolling Stone magazine, and shoot a music video with Channel V.

As per reports in the Ananda Bazaar Patrika, Dadagiri will be telecast weekly on the popular Bangla TV channel, ZEE Bangla. In the show, the former Indian captain who retired from the game in 2008 will be seen interacting with the masses and talking to celebrity guests.

There are speculations that Dadagiri will be a quiz show. Sourav Ganguly has confirmed the news saying,” Yes, I have agreed to this proposal. I only know I have to conduct a quiz show.”

Dadagiri aims to find the best talent in Bengal, from various fields. The format of Dadagiri has yet to be finalized. A Zee Bangla official refused to comment on the matter.

Initially the Dadagiri show would have 52 episodes, which may be increased later depending on the popularity of the show.

Reports say that some episodes will feature celebrities from national and international cricket teams.

Saurav Ganguly, who is currently the captain of the Kolkata Knightriders IPL team, will also be selecting cheerleaders for the IPL 2009 season. He will part of a panel of judges in a TV reality show that will be produced by Shahrukh Khan’s Red Chillies Entertainment that is a co-owner of the Kolkata Knight Riders.

The reality show will be telecast on NDTV Imagine, and will start in February 2009. The official cheerleaders will be chosen in March in time for the big league matches that start on April 10, 2009.

Now, the producers aim to capitalise on the curiosity and interest in the movie to produce a reality show ‘Secret Slumdog Millionaire’ (The title name is temporary though). The show will be set in Mumbai where real rich people would be out on the streets – or slums – in disguise as commoners, and help the poor with charity.

The Secret Slumdog Millionaire reality show will make some of the richest people witness and experience the real poverty in Mumbai.

Celador, the co-producer of the movie and the reality show “Who Wants to be a Millionaire” will be producing this show too and it will be broadcast as soon as possible.

The reality show will be an Indian version of the successful show known as “Secret Millionaire” in U.K. This show saw some of the richest people come out as undercover in poor areas, totally cut off from their posh lifestyle.

There is potential for a controversy, though. Expolitation of poverty, like with slum tourism or even a reality show even if it might be beneficial in the end, would not be to everyone’s liking. Are the poor people ready to be exhibited on a show? If at all they are being helped then why through a reality show, because in the end its business and it could well be summed up as exploitation of people in slum. These are sensitive issues in India, and let us hope the producers understand that.

A television insider told the UK’s Sunday Express: “It is a fantastic idea….The millionaires who sign up will see real poverty in Mumbai and it is going to be very moving when they reveal their identity and offer these people help.”

“The producers are bracing themselves against claims that they are cashing in on poverty but the bottom-line is they will actually be helping people as well as making great television.”

The title could be changed but as for now it is “Secret Slumdog Millionaire”.