Star Plus-Zee at loggerheads
The first promos of the Star Plus’ children’s singing reality show, Chhote Ustaad 2, have just gone on air with Sonu Niigaam and Rahat Fateh Ali Khan as the judges. Zee TV’s promotions started approximately three weeks ago for their singing reality show Sa Re Ga Ma Pa with Vishal-Shekhar, Sajid-Wajid and Daler Mehndi as mentor-judges. The buzz is that both shows will go on air in the same weekend, in the last week of July or the first week of August.
Zee TV’s programming head for non-fiction content, Ashish Golwalkar, says that there is no “intended competition”. “Dance India Dance (DID) and Sa Re Ga Ma Pa are the channel’s prime properties on weekends. By rotating them with the adult and kids’ versions, we have managed to sustain our TRPs,” asserts Golwalkar. He insists that his show’s launch was not fixed keeping Chhote Ustaad 2’s date and timing in mind. Sa Re Ga Ma Pa will be on the 9.30 pm slot, on Fridays and Saturdays.
Officials from Star Plus refused to comment. According to a reliable source, Star Plus has decided to relaunch Chhote Ustaad after two years in a bid to outscore Zee TV’s weekend ratings. This week, Star Plus became the No 1 channel with 400 plus points, Bidaai, beating Zee TV’s Pavitra Rishta to the No.1 spot.
“After becoming the top channel in the Hindi general entertainment space, they don’t want to lag behind in any slot,” points out our source. “The weekend prime time slot has been ruled by Zee. Earlier, in April, Zara Nachke Dikha arrived in the same weekend as DID Li’l Masters and scored 2.5 as against DID 6 points.”
Star Plus and Zee TV have been competitors since the 1990s and the war continues, even after two decades.
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