And then there were 10. Another Hindi general entertainment channel is readying its entry into the ranks of an ever expanding list and it goes by the name Colors.

Viacom 18 chose Thailand’s capital to announce the brand name of its upcoming Hindi GEC and declared Colors will be launching in July.

Headlining the event was Akshay Kumar, Bollywood action star and host of the channel’s initial flagship show Fear Factor – Khatron Ke Khiladi. Fear Factor is planned across 16 episodes.

Stressing that differentiation and disruption are the two key underpinnings of his channel, CEO Rajesh Kamat says, “Differentiation and disruption are going to be the drivers of Colors’ launch strategy to challenge the status quo in this segment – be it programming, marketing and distribution.”

Kamat further adds, “Colors is going to promote ‘cohesive viewing’ in a family, through shows and concepts that have universal appeal.”

Kamat used the brand name announcement to showcase two shows that he says best represented the core DNA of his channel.

Differentiation – Mohe Rang De, a big budget fiction show set in 1942 in pre-independence India.

Disruption – The channel’s version of Fear Factor, the Endemol format that was first ‘Indianised’ by Sony Entertainment Television India, is being mounted for the small screen on a scale never seen before in the country, Kamat asserts.

Adding glamour to this version of Fear Factor is the fact that 13 Indian celebs from the world of entertainment and fashion have been brought together for the show. Yana Gupta, Aditi Govatrikar, Pooja Bedi, Sonali Kulkarni, Tapur Chatterjee, Tupur Chatterjee, Sayali Bhagat, Nethra Raghuraman, Anjana Sukjani, Dipannita Sharma, Payal Rohtagi and Meghna Naidu amongst others. The show will be shot entirely in South Africa, over a period of one month and is being produced by Endemol India, the production company that Kamat headed before his move to Viacom 18.

Colors programming head Ashvini Yardi says the channel would offer an entire spectrum of emotions to viewers, well captured in its tagline – ‘Jasbaat Ke Rang’.

“Colors' programming will lend a new hue to the existing Hindi general entertainment category with a variety of great content across genres covering the entire spectrum of emotions. The programming mix endeavours to be relevant to today’s evolving viewers who have a deep rooted desire to escape to their fantasy world, while still remaining within the realm of reality,” Yardi adds.

In response to a query by Indiantelevision.com, Kamat states that the channel’s distribution will be managed by an in-house team headed by Sanjeev Hiremath, the long serving head of distribution, licensing and merchandising and network development for MTV Networks, as too the team from Network 18.

Viacom 18 has the concepts in place. How well that translates into ratings success when the Hindi GEC with the largest ever launch budget in Indian broadcast history goes on air will be watched with interest. It’s a go for broke strategy that Kamat, with the combined power of Viacom and Network 18 behind him, has chosen.

Fear is certainly not the factor that has colored the tale of this particular channel launch.