Its Sony Entertainments Turn For A Facelift

Facelifts have become a sine qua non in these troubled times for channels. First it was Star India which went for a new umbrella logo, soon followed by Zee Telefilms, which overhauled its image.

Now it is the turn of Sony Entertainment Television (SET) India, which is feeling the heat of competition, to hop on to the makeover bandwagon.

The company, which is currently third in channel viewership of programmes as per Intam peoplemeter, will unveil its new look for two of its channels, Sony and SET Max, from tomorrow.

But Kacon Sethi, executive vice-president, SET India, and the brain behind the facelift, says this is no reactive measure. "It is very much proactive, not reactive. Yes, we had seen that the on-air look for some of the other channels had undergone a change, but that didn't mean we had to get on to the bandwagon and change our look too. For us, the new look is part of an ongoing process. The on-air look at Sony changes every two years, and this time we felt that since our sixth anniversary is round the bend, it would be the right time to go and make that change happen."

"But yes. What we've done is in relation to what is available in the market. We needed to be leading, so we kept what others looked like in mind.... reflecting the channel personality," she added.

Kunal Dasgupta, chief executive officer, SET India, said: "I'm sure the new look will set new standards for the marketplace, and viewers and the advertising fraternity alike will love it."

Media analysts dub the revamp an attempt by the channel to move up to the number two position. The viewership gap between Zee and Sony is not too large at present.

The makeover has been executed by Belief, a Hollywood-based award-winning design house. Belief bagged a pitch that was open to seven other design houses from the US and the UK. "We've done three sets of designs for the new look," Sethi reveals, "And you will see it evolve every six months."