MUMBAI: Even though Max is gearing up to launch the fifth season of the Indian Premier League (IPL) on 4 April, the Hindi general entertainment channels (GECs) seem to be relaxed and unaffected.

The executives of these channels believe that it will be working as usual this time, and are not showing any concern because of the IPL 5.

This is despite the fact that India is still a single TV household and IPL is known for starting a trend of attracting housewives and kids to watch matches. And, the GEC genre has been seeing a drop in its share during the time of IPL.

However, this time there have been apprehensions about the response for IPL because Indian cricket team has not been performing very well. Yet, it poses a challenge for the GECs when it comes to audiences? preference.

The GEC genre had shrunk by 4.35 per cent during IPL 4 (in the All India market), as compared to a 9.07 per cent drop it had witnessed in the first season of IPL.

GECs are gearing up to launch new shows also during the time of IPL to attract more eyeballs, even if the rest of the plan remains the same.

Colors, for instance, has launched a new fiction today at 7 pm band by the name Kairi. .

According to Colors CEO Raj Nayak, "Today there is so much of cricket all through the year. IPL for us is just another good cricket tournament in the annual calendar. The genre share does not get impacted severely, so for us its life as usual. And it is reflected in our approach, we are launching a new program- Kairi in the launch week of IPL. We have a programming strategy in place. Our focus will be to continue to give our viewers differentiated and a broad variety of fiction and non fiction content."

Zee TV, with its newly found vigour will be launching three new shows. It is bringing back its dancing reality show, DID lil Masters soon. Additionally, it is launching a new fiction show Phir Subah Hogi.

Zee Entertainment Enterprise (Zeel) marketing head - national channels Akash Chawla said, "We are ready to combat IPL this time too."

Chawla noted that the impact of IPL-2 was far less significant than that of the IPL-1. "Last year, the GECs received a 10-15 per cent rating hit because the IPL event was held after the board exams. Two things emerge clearly. One, that regular GEC shows are growing in terms of audience numbers despite IPL. And two, the return on investment, as a result, on the IPL is much lower than on the GECs for advertisers. The five times premium advertisers paid on the IPL is not delivering as much return."
Star Plus, the leading Hindi GEC is planning to take two of its shows, ?Sasural Genda Phool? and ?Maryada?, off-air. The channel is expected to introduce two new fiction properties Ek Dusre se Karte Hain Pyaar Hum and Pyaar Ki Naukri.

Star India business head Hindi channels Nitin Vaidya also feels that IPL will not be able to shake the GEC genre stability. He said, "IPL effect has been declining over a period of time. Star Plus? programming strategy does not depend on IPL. We follow an annual calendar and all programming strategies are implemented accordingly. In the past as well we have launched programs that have done pretty well."

Turner International India chief content officer Vivek Bahl, who looks after the content of Imagine TV also, added, "Anything that brings up decent numbers does affect other?s ratings to an extent. Though the IPL ratings have been dipping each year, non-fiction shows get more affected than fiction shows by the same. Especially fiction that?s been a habit tends to get lesser affected during the IPL. Guess the above is due to the simple fact that the core non-fiction viewers are also those who watch the IPL.

"IPL target audience could be different but to lure that audience does a channel try to incorporate some activities around IPL in their popular shows. We don?t believe in tweaking our content in the face of any outside events or competition. The only ones we cater, & try to stay true to, are our viewers."

Meanwhile, Sony Entertainment Television and Sab, being the sister channels of Max, are not launching any new show. But post IPL, Set will launch singing reality show the sixth season of Indian Idol.

Life OK, Star India?s second GEC will be launching Aasmaan Se Aage on 23 April.

MUMBAI: French company Lagardere has said that its unit Lagardere Unlimited has had a difficult 2011 on account of losses from the Indian Premiere League (IPL).

Profits were hurt despite increased sales due to provisioning, non-collection of debt and litigation, primarily with the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) in connection with cricket rights at World Sport Group (WSG). Lagardere is the parent company of WSG.

It was a busy sports calendar in 2011, particularly due to the Asian Football Cup (WSG) and qualifying matches for the Uefa Euro 2012. This slightly offset by the absence of revenue from the IPL and no Africa Cup of Nations on the schedule.

Lagard?re Unlimited?s recurring EBIT before associates was negative -?6 million, down ?34 million compared to 2010. Sales grew by 6.2 per cent in the fiscal ended 2011.

Net sales was up 14.5 per cent to ?454 million on a reported basis.

Lagardene (not Legardere Unlimited) managed stable net sales of ?7.6 billion, up 0.2 per cent on a like-for-like basis. Recurring EBIT from Media activities was ?414 million, a reduction of 11.1 per cent at constant exchange rates.

Adjusted net income was ?226 million, down by ?58 million. Net income was impacted by write-downs amounting to ?895 million. At the same time net cash from operating and investment activities was up to ?766m (?320 million in 2010). There was reduction in net indebtedness: ?1,269 million (down ?503 million) and has available cash of ?2 billion.

MUMBAI: Indian Premier League (IPL) franchise Rajasthan Royals has signed England batsman Owais Shah as a replacement for Shane Warne, who has retired from all professional cricket. Warne led the Royals in the first four seasons of the IPL.

Shah has represented the Kolkata Knight Riders, Delhi Daredevils and Kochi Tuskers Kerala, in previous seasons of the DLF IPL.

Jaipur IPL Cricket CEO Raghu Iyer said, "We are delighted to have signed on Owais Shah to play for the Rajasthan Royals. He is one of the most exciting batsmen in the world and has been particularly outstanding in the shorter forms of the game.?

MUMBAI: Indian Premier League (IPL) franchise Delhi Daredevils has launched its new official ?Munday Dilli Ke? to herald the coming season of DLF India Premier League.

The song, sung by Jaspreet Jasz and composed by Arijit Datta and Micu Patel, was launched on Delhi Daredevils? radio partner Fever 104 FM.

GMR Sports head marketing Hemant Dua said that the new song is in keeping with the vibrant feel that the squad has with players skipper Virender Sehwag, vice-captain Mahela Jayawardene, Kevin Pietersen, David Warner, Ross Taylor and Irfan Pathan.

?The theme for the song is in keeping with our Dare to Succeed philosophy and a clarion call to all Delhi Daredevils supports to come out and play on the frontfoot. More importantly, this was commissioned in response to a demand from our supporters to revamp the song,? Dua added.

Arjit Datta said it was a wonderful experience putting the song together for the Delhi Daredevils. ?Micu and I loved doing it. It was pure magic and the manner in which the song has panned out made us realise that we were sitting on something big. The song has an urban, in your face, touch to it, with the dhol adding a Punjabi flavor.?

Jaspreet Jaz ? who calls himself a Dilli ka munda at heart and has sung in Telugu and Hindi movies ? said he loved singing the new official song of the Delhi Daredevils. ?I have followed the response to the song and feel humbled by the overwhelming show of support already,? he said.

MUMBAI: Delhi Daredevils has traded Indian fast-medium bowler Ashok Dinda and Australian all-rounder James Hopes with Sahara Group-owned Pune Warriors India for the coming Indian Premier League season.

"Ashok Dinda is a quality paceman, who has done well for the various teams he has represented in various formats of the game, be it Bengal, East Zone, Kolkata Knight Riders or Delhi Daredevils," said Sahara Adventure Sports Ltd Director Abhijit Sarkar.

He added, "The versatile James Hopes is an ideal cricketer to have in your camp, especially in the shorter forms of the game. Both players will boost our prospects in the upcoming IPL."

Hopes and Dinda were part of the Kings XI Punjab and Kolkata Knight Riders outfits respectively, before being acquired by Delhi Daredevils in the 2011 IPL Players Auction.

In another development, Shreevats Goswami, the wicketkeeper-batsman, has been transferred from Kolkata Knight Riders to Rajasthan Royals."

Meanwhile, Mumbai Indians have signed up T20 sensation Richard Levi as a replacement of former Australian batsman Andrew Symonds, for the fifth edition of IPL.