KJo, Alia co-curators of Viacom18's new English channel

Filmmaker Karan Johar and actress Alia Bhatt will now be seen as co-curators of Viacom18's two new English entertainment channels - Colors Infinity and Colors Infinity HD.

The duo has curated the line-up of shows for the channel, said Ferzad Palia, executive vice-president, Viacom18 and head, English entertainment.

"Both of them are heavy consumers of English content. Karan has been associated with us for many years. When we decided to do this, he was instantly interested because he watches a lot of this content and has suggested a lot of good shows to us. Since Karan also knows Alia well, who is also a heavy consumer of this content, she also agreed to be a part of it," he told IANS.

The network has entered into major multi-year deals with Warner Bros. International Television Distribution, NBC Universal, Sony Pictures Television, Twentieth Century Fox, Lionsgate, MGM, BBC and Endemol Shine among others.

"All of the content that we will be airing will be exclusive to the channel. It is an unprecedented list of acquisitions. Almost all of the content has never been seen in the country before. It is a goal to show the audience content which is new," he added.

Speaking on the collaboration with the channel, Karan Johar said in a statement: "With infinitely amazing content and game-changing new programming, I feel Colors Infinity will make sure English entertainment in India is never the same again."

Actress Alia Bhatt said the channel will "rise above" and create "amazing" content.

"By bringing India the latest and hottest new English shows, I believe Colors Infinity will rise above the white noise and create something amazing," she said.

The channel will boast of content that will span genres such as drama, superheroes, comedy, fantasy, crime and thrillers.

Additionally, it will focus on reality television with shows based on dancing, cooking, magic, singing and other lifestyle interests.

"It is a golden age for television. It is fascinating to see how much TV has evolved in the US and UK. The number of TV shows have grown approximately four times. There could not be a better time for us to explore this opportunity," said Palia.

"The audiences are moving to TV series from films. The scope of production has also increased. Our shows are heavily invested in by their creators," he added.