Star's Tamil GEC offering Vijay TV has fine tuned its programming mix and begun refocusing on the fiction space by bringing in a medley of drama, thrillers and mythological series in a bid to build primetime viewership during the 6.30 to 9 pm time band. The channel is targeting women and family audiences in the Tamil space.

The weekday primetime now consists of 5 fiction shows that occupy the 6.30-9 pm block on prime time, thus creating a healthy mix of fiction and nonfiction shows.

Says Vijay TV General Manager K Sriram, "We have done a lot of ground work in understanding the psychographic profiles of women across Tamil Nadu, conducted focus group studies and have discussed numerable storylines before launching the fiction shows. It is very encouraging to note that the band is gaining momentum and we hope to keep building on the same."

"Fiction is the bread and butter of any GEC," explains Sriram. "We have had good support from both the local and the national advertisers. Generally the local advertisers seize the opportunity first and get onto a show and the national advertisers follow," he adds.

Among the first few changes in Vijay TV's fiction kitty is Maharani, a soap which captures the life of two orphans who were best of friends who turn to be the worst of enemies. Next, the channel launched a mythological series based on Lord Mruga - Yam Irukka Bayam Yean, (Where I am, there is no fear) for the 7-8 pm band on weekdays.

Vijay TV came up with its third fiction series in Mahan, (Greats) for the 6.30 p slot, a series based on saints. Mahan is a serial that talks about the birth, the calling, the sacrifices, the miracles, and the saintly life led by the saint.

Vijay TV had planned about 60 episodes on Sri Guru Ragavendrar for Mahan, but looking at the popularity of the show, may extend it to about 90 episodes, reveals Sriram. The Tamil dubbed version of Sai Baba had been quite popular, and Vijay TV is planning about 40 episodes initially of a new Tamil production, Mahan. Based on the audience and advertisers response, the channel may increase the number of episodes. "I think we will limit the number of episodes to 90 for any saint," adds Sriram.

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