MUMBAI: "Watch our Kahaani Terri Merri nine-thirty pm daily on Sony TV... send this message to three people or you experience three years of bad TV viewing." That was the SMS that a colleague at indiantelevision.com got this morning.

Some novel marketing gimmick ahead of the premiere tonight of the new soap that Sony Entertainment Television is pitching as "television's biggest blockbuster"? Well, not quite. Turns out that not even the folks at Sony were able to tell where exactly this particular SMS had originated.

What they were able to say though was that an extensive media campaign has been developed around the new blockbuster soap from the Balaji Telefilm's stable. KTM launches tonight as a replacement for Kutumb in the daily 9:30 pm slot.

An outdoor campaign that covers Mumbai, New Delhi and the main "TRP cities" in the West and the North as well as Kolkata plus airplay on Radio Mirchi and All India radio are part of the promotional push for KTM.

There is also a press campaign that covers the main newspapers as well as magazines that will run for the next four to six weeks.

Among the magazines that will be featuring KTM ads are India Today, Filmfare and the Bengali language magazine Anand Log.