News Broadcasting
UTV has big hopes on revamped ‘Shakalaka Boom Boom’
MUMBAI: The longest running kids show on cable & satellite TV, Star Plus’ Shakalaka Boom Boom, has just undergone a reinvention (thankfully not another 20-year fast forward).
The first episode of the revamped show, which aired last week (Monday, 17 November), has seen the exit of most of the old cast. While Sanju and co are gone, star of the show ‘the magic pencil’ is still there with a new set of kids, including an alien kid ‘Shaan’.
Although the target audience remains the 4-14 one, it is a crucial audience as it forms 25 per cent of the viewing junta, which normally plays a great role in consumerist trends (read pester power).
Was there a need for revamp, were the ratings plummeting? UTV director Zarina Mehta retorts, “You need to reinvent constantly to maintain the freshness of the show. Plus with the original cast having all grown up, there was a fear that the target audience might not gel well with them. We have till now farmed out the story till April 2004, while scripting till January is already done. The ratings were not going down in fact we have seen a steady 4. TRPs for the first edition. Even the latest edition has got SLBB into top 50 in C&S homes”
Just like the last series, this time on the channel has signed a host of new child artiste barring one – Hansika Motwani, who plays 12-year old tomboy Shona. The story is about Shona and her four rich orphaned siblings who constitute the Malhotra kids, and their fight to survive the evil designs of their maternal uncle and wife and bad boy cousin.
With a typical Cinderella story in place, the story needed a fairy god mother. In came alien kid Shaan, the owner of magic pencil to help them solve their problems and get back at Kaartik and his evil parents.
Will the magic work with kids? “Although technically our audience is 4-14, we aim our show at 12-year-olds, who want to believe in magic,” offers Mehta.
MERCHANDISING: Encouraged by the response to the last years merchandising initiative of of SLBB pencils, where Star Plus’ designed pencil boxes, timetable etc, and distributed them amongst the school kids, something on similar lines is under discussion. Mehta indicated that the channel might even plan to venture into SLBB merchandise for commercial purposes.
The merchandise and the revamp aside, UTV is planning to get a few successful characters from other shows and popular figures for guest appearances.
News Broadcasting
CNN-News18 to air live counting day coverage for five state election results on May 4
The channel is rolling out its biggest election coverage machinery yet for results day on 4th May
NOIDA: The votes have been cast. Now comes the reckoning. CNN-News18 is pulling out all the stops for results day on 4th May, when counting begins across five battleground states — West Bengal, Assam, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and the Union Territory of Puducherry — in what promises to be one of the most closely watched electoral verdicts in recent memory.
The channel’s coverage, titled Battle for the States: The Verdict, kicks off at 7am and runs through the day across linear TV, connected television and YouTube. It is the culmination of CNN-News18’s multi-format editorial initiative, Battle for the States, which has tracked the polls from the beginning under the theme Road to Power.
At the operational heart of the coverage will be the Live Results Hub, the channel’s central command centre built to collate, verify and process real-time data flowing in from reporters stationed at counting centres across constituencies. The hub combines newsroom intelligence, analytics and on-the-ground reporting to deliver what the channel promises will be the fastest and most accurate results coverage in English news.
Leading the on-air charge will be primetime anchors Rahul Shivshankar, Anand Narasimhan, Aman Sharma, Nabila Jamal and Shivani Gupta. They will be joined by a wide panel of commentators including author Chetan Bhagat; GVL Narasimha Rao, senior leader of the BJP; Smita Prakash, editor of ANI; activist Saira Shah Halim; political analyst Sumanth C Raman; Abhijit Iyer Mitra, senior fellow at IPCS; Amitabh Tiwari, founder of VoteVibe; columnist Abhijit Majumdar; Nalin Mehta, managing editor of MoneyControl; political analyst Tehseen Poonawalla; senior journalist Subir Bhaumik; and political analyst Manojit Mandal.
Shivshankar, who serves as editorial affairs director at CNN-News18, set out the stakes plainly. “Counting day is one of the most watched events in the electoral cycle, where speed and credibility are tested in real time,” he said. “Battle for the States: The Verdict is built on that promise, combining ground reporting, sharp analysis and cutting-edge election technology to give viewers the clearest and fastest route to the verdict. On May 4, CNN-News18 will once again be the nation’s most trusted channel to witness democracy in action.”
Smriti Mehra, chief executive of English and Business News at Network18, framed the coverage in broader terms. “Elections are defining national events, and audiences turn to brands they trust in moments that matter,” she said. “CNN-News18 has consistently led from the front in every election coverage, and this special programming reflects the scale of our ambition and editorial strength.”
The channel has form here. It claims to have been India’s most preferred English news destination for election results for the past 20 years, covering everything from the 2024 general elections to the Delhi, Maharashtra, Bihar and BMC polls on the back of what it calls an “Always First, Always Right” record. Five states, one day, and a nation waiting for answers. The clock starts at 7am on 4th May.
