English Entertainment
COLORS INFINITY celebrates its third anniversary with a BIG BANG!
MUMBAI: Celebrating the occasion of its third anniversary with much gusto and zest, COLORS INFINITY is treating fans to the most comical, hysterical and whimsical weekend of all-time with a marathon of The Big Bang Theory, airing seasons one to six, staring at 10am on Saturday, July 28 till 8pm Monday, July 30. It’s time to don your geeky glasses, lab coats and superhero tees as COLORS INFINITY takes you on a joyride with the science loving, comic-book reading, video-game playing and superhero admiring gang of adorable misfits.
Reflecting on the third anniversary of the channel, Ferzad Palia, Head – English, Youth and Music Entertainment, Viacom18 said, “The English Entertainment cluster of Viacom18 has had a phenomenal year, and continues to cement its position as leaders in the segment. Bogarting a majority share of the English Entertainment pie with a 53% share, COLORS INFINITY along with Comedy Central and Vh1 have continued to dominate the leader board in FY19, taking the Top-3 positions. A 100% increase in viewership during FY18, only adds to the momentous occasion of our third anniversary. Steadfast in our philosophy to bring only the best-in-class of every genre to viewers; and in the spirit of festivities for our third-year anniversary we decided to celebrate it with one of television’s biggest sitcoms – ‘The Big Bang Theory’.”
Leading up to the rib-tickling weekend, viewers will be treated to a Live Binge of the latest season of Orange Is The New Black, premiering the complete season with back-to-back episodes starting at 1pm on Friday, July 27. But the party does not stop at that, as COLORS INFINITY brings the revelry to your house, with Instant Premieres. Presenting the latest season of Better Call Saul, the channel will premiere the episodes of Season 4 immediately after its US telecast.
Commenting on the upcoming programming line-up, Hashim Dsouza – Head of Programming, English Entertainment, Viacom18 said, “COLORS INFINITY is proud to showcase a variety in the premium offering that appeals to both the masses as well as niche audiences looking for something different. Our process of curating content for the programming line-up is based on what we believe audience will enjoy and appreciate, while at the same time adding a mix of critically acclaimed shows, that are creating waves in the English Entertainment space. Complimenting the existing programming with a blend of The Big Bang Theory marathon, Live Binge of Orange Is The New Black and Instant Premiere of Better Call Saul, we have a winning line-up that completes the entertainment experience for viewers of our channel.”
Following the marathon, The Big Bang Theory takes primetime slot on weekdays at 8pm starting from season – 1. In addition to the superhit sitcom and the newest seasons of two smashing dramas, COLORS INFINITY also brings the latest season of some of the most-watched shows on the channel – The Royals, The Flash and US television’s biggest reality show – America’s Got Talent, that has charmed its way to the hearts and popularity charts of Indian audience as well.
Making it hard for anyone to remain a ‘Big Bang Virgin’, the channel is complementing its entertaining line-up by accelerating the marketing efforts with a 360-degree promotional campaign that’s attuned to all the target audience touchpoints including – On-air, Outdoor, Print, Radio, BTL and Digital.
UK: The aerial is losing its grip. As broadband becomes the default way Britons watch television, the UK is edging towards a decisive, and divisive, question: should Freeview be switched off by 2034? The issue, highlighted in reporting by The Guardian, has exposed deep fault lines over access, affordability and the future of public service broadcasting.
For nearly 25 years, Freeview has delivered free-to-air television from the BBC, ITV, Channel 4 and Channel 5 to almost every corner of the country. Even now, it remains the UK’s largest TV platform, used in more than 16m homes and on around 10m main household sets. Yet the same broadcasters that built it are now pressing for its closure within eight years.
Their case rests on a structural shift in viewing. Smart TVs, superfast broadband and the Netflix-led streaming boom have pulled audiences online. Advertising economics have followed. By 2034, the number of homes using Freeview as their main TV set is forecast to fall from a peak of almost 12m in 2012 to fewer than 2m, making digital terrestrial television, or DTT, increasingly costly to sustain.
But critics say the rush to switch off risks abandoning those least able, or least willing, to move online.
“I don’t want to be choosing apps and making new accounts,” says Lynette, 80, from Kent. “It is time-consuming and irritating trying to work out where I want to be, to remember the sequence of clicks, with hieroglyphics instead of words. If I make a mistake I have to start again.”
Lynette is among nearly 100,000 people who have signed a “save Freeview” petition launched by campaign group Silver Voices. She fears the government is about to “take [Freeview] away from me and others who either don’t like, can’t afford, or can’t use online versions”.
Official figures underline the fault lines. A report commissioned by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport estimates that by 2035, 1.8m homes will still depend on Freeview. Ofcom’s analysis shows those households are more likely to be disabled, older, living alone, female, and based in the north of England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.
Freeview is owned by the public service broadcasters through Everyone TV, which also operates Freesat and the newer streaming platform Freely. After two years of review, DCMS is expected to set out its position soon, drawing on three options proposed by Ofcom: a costly upgrade of Freeview’s ageing technology; maintaining a bare-bones service with only core PSB channels; or a full switch-off during the 2030s.
The broadcasters have rallied behind the third option. They argue that 2034 is the logical cut-off, when transmission contracts with network operator Arqiva expire. By then, they say, the cost of broadcasting to a dwindling audience will far outweigh the returns from TV advertising.
Ofcom agrees a crunch point is approaching. In July, the regulator warned of a “tipping point” within the next few years, after which it will no longer be commercially viable for broadcasters to carry the costs of DTT.
Others see risks beyond economics. Questions remain over whether internet TV can reliably deliver emergency broadcasts, such as the daily Covid updates, in the way that universally available DTT can. The UK radio industry has also warned that an internet-only future for TV could push up distribution costs and force some radio stations off air if PSBs no longer share Arqiva’s mast network.
“It is a political hot potato,” says Dennis Reed, founder of Silver Voices, who says he has “dissociated” his organisation from the government’s stakeholder forum, which he believes is “heavily biased” towards streaming.
The Future TV Taskforce, representing the PSBs, counters that moving online could “close the digital divide once and for all”. “We want to be able to plan to ensure that no one is left behind,” a spokesperson says, adding that rising DTT costs could otherwise mean cuts to programme budgets.
The numbers show the scale of the challenge. Of the 1.8m Freeview-dependent homes projected for 2035, around 1.1m are expected to have broadband but not use it for TV. The remaining 700,000 are forecast to lack a broadband connection altogether.
Veterans of the analogue switch-off, completed in 2012 after 76 years, recall similar fears of “TV blackout chaos”. Around 6 per cent of households were labelled “digital refuseniks”, yet a targeted help scheme and a national campaign, fronted by a robot called Digit Al voiced by Matt Lucas, delivered a largely smooth transition.
This time, the BBC is less keen to foot the bill. Tim Davie, the outgoing director general, has said the corporation should not fund a comparable support programme for a Freeview switch-off.
Research for Sky by Oliver & Ohlbaum suggests that with early awareness campaigns and digital inclusion measures, only about 330,000 households would ultimately need hands-on help ahead of a 2034 shutdown.
Meanwhile, viewing habits continue to fragment. Audience body Barb says 7 per cent of UK households no longer own a TV set, choosing to watch on other devices. In December, YouTube overtook the BBC’s combined channels in total UK viewing across TVs, smartphones and tablets, albeit measured at a minimum of three minutes.
That shift may accelerate. YouTube has recently blocked Barb and its partner Kantar from accessing viewing session data, limiting transparency just as online platforms consolidate power.
“When the government chose British Satellite Broadcasting as the ‘winner’ in satellite TV it was Rupert Murdoch’s Sky instead that came out on top,” says a senior TV executive quoted by The Guardian. “There already is such an outsider ready to be the winner in the transition to internet TV; it is YouTube.”
Freeview’s future now hangs on a familiar British dilemma: modernise fast and risk exclusion, or protect universality and pay the price. Either way, the aerial’s days as king of the living room look numbered.
