Mumbai: Star India?s youth entertainment channel, Channel [V], is gearing up to launch second season of its popular teen-crime show Gumrah on 9 July.

The show will air every week Monday to Friday at 8 pm. Each episode will illustrate new stories of crime.

The show is co-produced by Balaji Telefilms? ALT Entertainment and Lost Boy Productions. It will continue to be hosted by Karan Kundra.

The channel said that with the introduction of season 2 of Gumrah, Channel [v] takes the plunge again into the world of crime to explore the different moods and emotions that drive the young minds.

Channel [V] EVP and GM Prem Kamath said, "Gumrah deals with the issue of teen crime which is very intricately connected to society today. The show?s wide acceptance amongst viewers has proved the importance and relevance of this issue. With the accelerating occurrences of crime in our society by youth, it makes us even more responsible to tackle the problem perceptively."

Kamath said that through Gumrah, the channel aims to educate the people on numerous psychological reasons that instigate youngsters towards taking the path of crime. "The idea is to educate both the teenagers and their parents in understanding and handling these complex issues," he added.

Balaji Telefilms joint managing director Ekta Kapoor said, "Gumrah as a concept has huge potential. The show has a direct connect with the audience as it is factual and relatable. The show is doing exceedingly well and it was only fair to give the audience more of what they like. Gumrah Season 2 will live up to its expectations and envisage a success story of viewership."

MUMBAI: Bollywood music is slowly losing its charm among the youth and music channels as it does not bring any exclusivity or premium value. The main reason: similar content is also available on multiple platforms.

So does that mean that the viewer is no longer looking for the feel of FM radio in the visual space? Is this the reason behind Channel [V]?s latest announcement of doing away with music content completely?

The answer is yes. Bollywood Music has become a commodity and the players are not making the moolah.

So has Channel [V] taken a wise decision to move away from Bollywood music? Answers Channel [V] EVP and GM Prem Kamath, ?We didn?t want to be a commodity channel. We were working on this strategy since over two-and-a-half years and we built it in phases as the cost of original content is too high compared to music. But yes, we are making good progress as the time spent on the channel is too high and all our shows are getting good numbers.?

Last year, the whole youth and music genre got divided into two categories? pure play music channels and youth channels. However, it seems that now there will be four. There will be pure music, gossipy and news-based (Zoom, UTV Stars, E24), youth channels which also air music content (MTV, Bindass), and youth content channels (Channel [V]).

Explains MTV India EVP and business head Aditya Swamy, ?Music in itself has two different categories today. One is acquired music that is Bollywood and all the channels are just platform providers. The second is original music, upon which MTV is focusing more. With shows like Coke Studio, Sound Trippin, and Unplugged, we have created over 150 songs in the last one year. So there is definitely a market.?

These channels need to differentiate in a cluttered market. And by virtue of being a youth nation with 70 per cent youth population, all the channels have youth viewers. So the music channels claim to be youth channels in disguise, says a senior media executive.

Flarepath president Saurabh Kanwar, who has worked at both MTV and Channel [V], believes that music is harder to monetise as it is the same content. "It will, however, continue to survive on channels for some more time. What has changed today is that consumption of music videos has become an internet phenomenon. Ultimately, digital will change the way the channels air content in future. Having said that, original content is very expensive compared to music and it may work on branded platforms because of the legacy.?

But does that mean that music channels will not survive? 9X Media EVP Punit Pandey believes that there is enough market for both the genres to co-exist. ?Why then are so many pure play music channels launching if there is no scope? Our research shows that a viewer knows what he or she wants. If he wants music, he comes to music channels like ours. If he wants fiction or nonfiction shows, he goes to such channels. And monetisation is merely a reflection of performance.?

The genre has 19 players fighting over Rs 3.5-4 billion that they have to share amongst themselves a year as they generate 200-240 GRPs (gross rating points) on a weekly basis. This goes to explain their volatile nature.

MUMBAI: For television viewers in India, nothing can get more ironic than this. On the very next day of the World?s Music Day, Channel [V] announced its decision to completely do away with Bollywood music content.

Positioned as a youth channel, the Star network channel has decided to make the paradigm shift by discontinuing all music slots in its programming lineup effective 1 July.

Says Channel [V] EVP and GM Prem Kamath, "This is the last leg of the strategy that we embarked on two-and-a-half years ago when we relaunched the channel (in 2009). We have focussed on targeting youth and Channel [V] has always been identified as a youth channel. I dare to say that we are the only complete youth entertainment channel."

According to Kamath, in the last four weeks Channel [V] has clocked an average of over 50 GRPs (gross rating points) in the 15-34 ABC Hindi speaking markets, on the back of the original content that the channel is airing.

"We are completely moving away from Bollywood music as we have realised that music is a very poor way of targeting the youth audiences. Moreover, we have invested in original content over the last three years and specifically on daily fiction over the last 14 months, which has paid very good dividends in viewership," Kamath emphasises.

Won?t the return on investments be tougher as production costs will go up? ?Yes, the cost of producing original content is significantly higher. But this content strategy is distinctly more sustainable as well,? Kamath says.

Airing music is ineffective as there are too many channels and Kamath doesn?t want Channel [V] to be a disguised youth channel.

The channel will increase weekly hours of original content starting 1 July. It will convert its weekly teen crime show, Gumrah ? End of Innocence, into a daily from Monday to Friday at 8 pm. Currently, Gumrah ? End of Innocence airs as a one-hour show every Sunday.

The channel will also launch its fourth fiction show, The Buddy Project, on 23 July that will occupy the Monday- Friday 6 pm slot.

Channel [V]?s current lineup includes three fiction shows - Dil Dostii Dance, Humse Hai Liife and Surveen Guggal.

When asked if the channel will only air fiction content, Kamath clarifies that Channel [V] is genre agnostic and any show that is engaging the youth, be it fiction, non-fiction or chat, will be aired.

At present, Channel [V] airs music only in the morning band. Music accounts for 20 per cent of the channel?s current content lineup.