Article-Sony to pump up prime time

By ANURADHA RAMAMIRTHAM
Indiantelevision.com Team

(11 June 2009 6:40 pm)

MUMBAI: Sony Entertainment Television (Set), which recently revamped its prime time programming, has acquired British broadcaster ITV's popular celebrity reality show I'm A Celebrity…Get Me Out of Here.

The channel is expected to premiere the Indianised version of the show in second week of July this year, replacing talent show Entertainment Ke Liye Kuch Bhi Karega.

Entertainment Ke Liye…, which is airing Monday-Friday at the 10 pm slot, is planned for a six-week airing, a source in Sony says. The one-hour show garnered a peak TVR of 1.3 in its second week of run, according to Tam data.

The Indian version will be shot in Hindi at Malaysia's Taman Negara rainforest. The show will air for a duration of two months.

"We have acquired the rights for one year and the show will bow in July on Sony TV," the source adds.

Miditech and ITV's unit Silverback Productions will co-produce the show.

The format of I'm a Celebrity… demands 10 celebrities to live in jungle conditions with few comforts; they will have to earn human essentials.

Originally, the show was launched on ITV in UK in 2002. The brand has generated more than 170 million from production, distribution and format deals. It recently launched on NBC in the US and Swedish broadcaster TV4 will launch it later this year