For Colors, Wednesday was a mixed bag. While, the Bigg Boss episode garnered the highest ratings since its debut this season with former Baywatch star Pamela Anderson’s entry, the channel received the order from the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (I&B) directing it to take the reality show off the prime time band.
However, the channel got a respite when the Bombay High Court stayed the Centre’s diktat ordering Colors to air the reality show at 11 pm from the earlier prime time slot at 9 pm. According to overnight TV ratings (TVRs) monitoring agency aMap, Wednesday’s telecast of the show got a rating of 4.8 in the north, west and east India markets. The episode also had the highest ratings amongst all other programmes on rival general entertainment channels (GECs). Channel surfers stayed with Colors for a longer period compared to other days, spiking TVRs. According to aMap data, the opening day episode of the show had a TVR of 3.6. TVRs represent the percentage of population that watched a show for a stipulated time period. The I&B ministry had directed Colors to telecast the show after 11 pm and before 5 am, citing vulgar language and objectionable scenes in the show. Advertisers had said they would renegotiate advertisement rates if the shows were shifted from the 9-10 pm time band.
“Bigg Boss will continue to be telecast in the prime time slot of 9 pm,” said a Colors spokesperson. The next hearing on the petition is on November 22.
Apart from Colors, NDTV Imagine was also asked to telecast its reality show Raakhi ka Insaaf after 11 pm.
A spokesperson for NDTV Imagine said, “We have received an advisory from the I&B Ministry that requires us to shift the telecast timing of the programme. We are complying with the ministry’s advice on this matter, and changing the telecast time. We have already stopped all day-time repeats of the programme and have advised all news channels to refrain from carrying excerpts or clips of the show during daytime.”