News Broadcasting
Star to play the ‘Dirty Rotten Cheater’
MUMBAI: This is a piece of news that could just revive the game show format in India. Star India is all set to play a game of cross and double cross upon its viewers.
It has picked up the format rights to the game show Dirty Rotten Cheater. It is distributed by Distraction Formats.
The show recently premiered in a daily access prime slot on Italy’s Canale 5.
Star will commence production later this year in Delhi. The game show is based on deception and double-crossing and works like this. Six players compete through five rounds.
They need to guess the answers to a series of light-hearted questions. These have previously been surveyed by the public who have given their top ten answers.
The most obvious answers are worth the smallest amount of money and the more tricky answers are where the big bucks can be earned.
However, theres a catch. Within the group there is a cheater who already has all the answers. If the cheater wants the cash he/she has to be as devious and persuasive as possible to convince the other contestants that someone else is cheating.
Players accuse each other of deception, the audience suspicion grows as the episode progresses. Each player tries desperately to convince the others he is not the cheater and remain in the game.
Star TV director Rajesh Kamat was quoted in a release put out by Distraction Formats saying, “We are delighted to have signed this deal with Distraction Formats and I am sure it will be the first of many. Dirty Rotten Cheater is a distinctive format and we are sure that it will do very well in India.”
The show premiered on Canale 5 on 7 July 2004. It has been pulling consistent market shares of over 20 per cent in its daily prime access time slot.
Last September Distraction Formats had secured worldwide distribution rights from Jonathan Goodson Productions for the above mentioned game show. TWI had picked up the format rights at Mipcom last year for the UK market.
At that time explaining the reason behind the popularity of the show Distraction Formats sales VP Arabelle Pouliot added,: ” Dirty Rotten Cheaters makes for fun and compelling TV. The contestants are under pressure, the studio audience is involved and the play-along attraction for home viewers is there due of the survey style questions and the drama created in trying to uncover the cheater.”
Distraction Formats has built its business upon the acquisition of high-rating existing formats. Formed in October 1997, Distraction works with format creators across the globe in order to provide broadcasters and independent producers worldwide with successful and original formats in all genres.
News Broadcasting
Rajesh Sundaram joins NDTV Profit as senior editor, assignment
The 32-year newsroom veteran has launched channels on three continents and covered everything from 9/11 to South African television
MUMBAI: NDTV Profit has bolstered its newsroom with a hire who has done rather more than most. Rajesh Sundaram, a journalist with over three decades of editorial, managerial and consultative experience across India and international markets, joins as senior editor, assignment, tasked with sharpening the network’s newsgathering and real-time response.
Sundaram’s career reads like a tour of Indian media’s most formative moments. He began at Businessworld in 1994, moved to Zee News as bureau chief across Mumbai and Chennai, then joined NDTV in 2002 as part of its political bureau during a particularly febrile period in Indian politics. A stint as India correspondent for Al Jazeera International followed, where he covered key geopolitical developments and got his first serious taste of the global newsroom.
What sets Sundaram apart, however, is his serial channel-launching habit. At NewsX, he helped get the operation off the ground. At Headlines Today, part of the India Today Group, he served as editor. At News Nation, he helped launch the Hindi news channel and its digital ecosystem. He then crossed continents to lead the launch of ANN7 in South Africa as editor-in-chief, overseeing both television and digital. Back in India, he launched Tamil news channels News7 Tamil and Cauvery News, and later served as principal consultant for the launch of Marathi channel Lokshahi. Most recently, he helped build and lead the Press Trust of India’s video service and content studio, before stints consulting for Business Today and The Himalayan Times.
Rahul Kanwal, chief executive and editor-in-chief of NDTV, left little doubt about what Sundaram is expected to deliver. “The assignment desk is where a newsroom’s intent becomes action,” he said. “Rajesh brings a rare combination of field experience and leadership in building news operations at scale.”
Sundaram has reported from across India and the world, covering elections, civil conflicts, the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks and the 2008 US presidential election.
At NDTV Profit, he will lead the assignment desk, driving editorial coordination and real-time response across markets and breaking developments. For a business news network sharpening its focus on speed and multi-platform delivery, it has hired a man who has built newsrooms from scratch on three continents. The assignment desk is in good hands.
