English Entertainment
AXN’s India Pak Challenge off to a decent start in Mumbai
MUMBAI: Crawling on hands and feet through muck! Tightening a nut and bolt inside a box filled with over 1000 cockroaches! These were just a couple of challenges that participants in the Mumbai qualifying round of AXN’s Extreme India Vs Pakistan Challenge had to perform.
Around 125 participants mostly college students turned up this morning at the St. Xavier’s Football Ground in Parel. Speaking to Indiantelevision.com on the occasion Sony Assistant VP marketing Rohit Bhandari who looks after AXN in India said, ” The response while not outstanding has been decent when you consider the difficulty reaching the venue. The rain however makes the situation all the more difficult and interesting.
“This is our way of having people experience the AXN brand up close and personal. In the Delhi qualifying round we will have 400 participants while in Bangalore and Kolkata the figure is 300 and 200 respectively. In Karachi so far 140 people have evinced interest. However on the day of the Pakistan event I am confident that more people will turn up.”
The qualifying events have three stages. The first stage sees a sprint and pull ups being performed. 50 participants move into the next stage, which is the most physical. Here you have participants crawling underneath a 30 inch net, scaling a six foot wall and climbing a scaffolding and then moving from one end to the other using a rope and harness. Both timing and the overall personality are taken into account.
The number of contestants is then whittled down to 20 for the third and final stage. This is when the earlier mentioned cockroach box situation comes into play. There is also a situation reaction test that lasts for around ten minutes for each participant.
Each participant answers ten questions within four seconds. The test administrator has a stop watch that beeps on the fourth second. One person emerges victorious. “Our aim is to check their reactions and how they are able to maintain a presence of mind in front of the camera. We are also trying to gauge how each participant will function in a team. The finale will see four Indians having to work together for the first time against four members of Pakistan.”
Bhandari went on to state that the India Vs Pakistan Challenge was the only ground event lined up for this year. “Last year it made sense for us to do the Hot ‘n’ Wild Hunt. It was unique and we were the only ones doing such an event. This year there are so many searches being done by various channels whether it is for a singer or for an actor that if we repeated Hot ‘n’ Wild then we would not stand out. Therefore we decided to stay away from the search concept,” Bhandari explained.
He added that while Guinness World Records was a unique concept that had been done in India a couple of years ago the problem was that there was no instant gratification for the participants. Ratification takes six to eight weeks and the participant is left wondering as to whether his/her effort has been worth it.
AXN however did run a Live your Big Action Dream Contest in June. This was an on air thing where viewers had to mail in their replies to axnindia.com on what they felt was the biggest thing they wanted to in life. Today in Singapore the winner from Mumbai did a 12,000-foot skydive jump from a helicopter. Bhandari explained that this was possible because the Singapore Military was organising a skydiving exhibition.
He however added that some of the requests had not been feasible. “Some people asked for dinner with Shah Rukh Khan, which clearly does not fit our brand. There were a few who wanted to drive a Formula One car, which was out of our reach. We also had a lot of people who wanted to do white water rafting.” The next ten good entries won prizes in the form of mobile phones and other gifts.
English Entertainment
ZEE5 UK partners Narrative Entertainment to add UK channels
Six FAST channels added as platform sharpens hybrid play in Britain
LONDON: ZEE5 UK struck a first-of-its-kind deal with Narrative Entertainment, bringing mainstream UK television channels onto an Indian streaming platform as it pushes to deepen its footprint in a crowded, mature market.
The partnership adds six of Narrative’s FAST channels to the service, including Great! Movies, Great! Romance, Great! Mystery and kids brands POP, Tiny Pop and POP UP, widening ZEE5 UK’s appeal across genres and age groups.
The move reflects a clear shift in strategy. ZEE5 UK is betting on a hybrid model that blends on-demand content with curated, always-on channels to drive discovery and increase time spent on the platform.
“This partnership represents a meaningful evolution in how we serve audiences in mature markets like the UK, where viewers are defined by habits, convenience and choice rather than geography or language alone,” said Parul Goel, territory head, Europe, Zee Entertainment. “By bringing trusted mainstream UK channels together with our premium originals, movies and kids’ content, we are building a more consumer-centric platform that simplifies viewing while increasing depth and relevance.”
Fateha Begum, commercial director, Narrative Entertainment, said the tie-up would fuel growth for both sides. “Our portfolio of quality programming, with such wide and enduring appeal, is a perfect complement to ZEE5 UK. This is a strong partnership that will support growth for both parties, and we share Zee Entertainment’s vision of an increasingly partnership-led future for the industry.”
ZEE5’s global library spans over 4,000 films and more than 500 originals, with over 130 new titles added annually. The addition of Narrative’s channels strengthens its kids offering and introduces genre-led linear experiences alongside its on-demand catalogue.
The deal also gives Narrative access to ZEE5 UK’s fast-growing user base, extending reach without diluting brand identity, while reinforcing ZEE5 UK’s network of more than 40 live channels.
As streaming wars intensify, ZEE5 UK is widening its playbook, blending content, convenience and partnerships in a bid to win screen time in one of the world’s toughest markets.
