Mumbai: Big CBS Love is all set to air the 12th season of the singing reality show ?American Idol?, concurrent with the US.

American Idol season 12 will premiere on 18 January and will air every Friday and Saturday at 9 pm.

To be hosted by Ryan Seacrest, the show will be judged by Mariah Carey, Nicki Minaj, Keith Urban and Randy Jackson.

Big CBS business head Anand Chakravarthy said, ?Staying true to our promise of providing the latest and hottest content to our viewers, we are really excited to present viewers with the unique opportunity to watch American Idol Season 12 concurrent with the US. Keeping in mind the current scenario post-DAS, the show will reach a larger audience base across consumer segments, while simultaneously offering marketers an excellent platform to reach out to their target audiences.?

The latest season of American Idol will witness a re-jig with small-towners being able to be a part of the show through the ?AI Small Town Audition Bus Tour? which will visit 10 small towns in USA.

The season will go digital with the ?Nominate An Idol? Program which enables friends and family members to secretly nominate introverted singer hopefuls through a video helping them proceed to the next round.

Big CBS Love is promoting American Idol Season 12 heavily through a 360-degree marketing campaign which reaches out to audiences through multiple touch-points like print, radio, electronic, OOH and digital mediums.

The channel will also host an online talent hunt for aspiring singers called ?Love To Sing? with Talenthouse.com which will allow fans from across the country to be a part of the American Idol experience. The winner of the ?Love to Sing? contest will get the unique opportunity to witness American Idol Live in Los Angeles, USA.

MUMBAI: Big CBS Love is launching a new television drama series titled ?Melrose Place?.

Starting 7 January, the show will air every Monday to Thursday at 10 pm.

The show will feature actors like Laura Leighton, Katie Cassidy, Heather Locklear and pop singer Ashlee Simpson in prominent roles.

A franchise of the popular drama series 90210, Melrose Place follows the lives, careers, trials and tribulations of a group of young tenants who reside in the same apartment building in the trendy and fashionable Melrose neighbourhood of Los Angeles.

As the young professionals work towards achieving their goals, drives and desires, the murder of their 40-year-old landlady leads to a mystery where everyone is a suspect with a motive to kill her.

Big CBS Network business head Anand Chakravarthy said, ?With an intriguing plot catering to the urban elite audiences, Melrose Place will further amplify our promise to provide the latest, freshest and hottest content to our viewers. The show has a great mix of Passion, Glamour and Lust as a back drop to a murder mystery, a heady mix certain to go down well with audiences.?

?The show will be promoted extensively via a robust digital campaign while primarily targeting social platforms. It is a great opportunity for marketers and advertisers with multiple engagement avenues enabling them to reach out to their target audiences,? he added.

MUMBAI: Reliance Broadcast Network Limited (RBNL) has narrowed its loss before tax and interest from the television business to Rs 116.6 million in the second quarter ended 30 September from Rs 228.3 million a year earlier.

RBNL?s revenue from TV business rose 121 per cent to Rs 83.56 million in the second quarter from Rs 37.65 million a year earlier.

RBNL runs six channels, four of them in joint venture with CBS Network which includes Big CBS, Big CBS Love, Big CBS Spark and a regional general entertainment channel called Spark Punjabi. It also runs Big RTL Thrill in JV with Europe?s RTL Group. Besides, it also has a regional General Entertainment Channel for the Hindi heartland called Big Magic.

The company?s radio broadcasting business Big FM posted loss before tax and interest of Rs 22.27 million in the second quarter against a profit of Rs 120.27 million a year earlier, as its revenue shrunk 31 per cent to Rs 392.5 million from Rs 571 million. In the first quarter of this year, its loss before tax and interest was Rs 14.14 million.

The company?s consolidated net loss for the second quarter was Rs 217.1 million, down from Rs 244.5 million a year earlier.

RBNL?s consolidated net income from operations shrunk to Rs 526.1 million in the second quarter from Rs 557.1 million a year earlier. However, the decline in revenue was offset by control in expenditure, which fell 30 per cent to Rs 701.3 million from Rs 960.2 million a year earlier.

The company said its total borrowing as on 30 September was Rs 3.14 billion.

MUMBAI: Models, runways, grueling photo shoots and a prize! All this will be part of the reality show Australia?s Next Top Model, the sixth season of which will air Monday to Friday at 10:30 pm on the women targetted channel Big CBS Love.

Coming on board as the host and judge of Australia?s Next Top Model, is Sarah Murdoch. Sarah is an Australian supermodel, actress and daughter-in-law of media mogul Rupert Murdoch. She has modelled for L?Oreal, Estee Lauder and Ralph Lauren, Christian Dior and Yves Saint Laurent.

This is the second time that Sarah has come on to the show as the host and judge. Along with Sarah, the other judges on the show are fashion designer Alex Perry, television personality Charlotte Dawson and fashion and beauty photographer Jez Smith.

The show follows a group of 16 young Australian girls, who come from all over Australia to Sydney, to compete for the title of Australia?s next super model. The girls must undergo a series of challenges and tricky photo shoots that bring out different aspects that are vital for a model to master in order for the judges to determine who will be Australia?s Next Top Model.

The winner not only wins the coveted title but scores of other prizes that include representation by Australia?s premiere modeling agency Priscilla?s Model Management for 12 months; a $25,000 contract to be the face of the jeans brand Levi?s; a trip to New York to meet with top modeling agency Elite Model Management; a Ford Fiesta Zetec, $20,000 and an exclusive eight page editorial and cover spread in fashion magazine Harper?s Bazaar.

MUMBAI: English GEC Big CBS Love, which targets women, is launching a new local show, I Love Style, starting today at 10 pm.

The show will air Monday - Friday and has roped in a string of fasghion designers for this.

The list includes Rohit Bal, Anamika Khanna, JJ Valaya, Rocky S, and Rina Dhaka. They will showcase their understanding of the growing Indian woman?s needs for comfortable, stylish, branded and affordable clothing.These designers, with their distinct, urban sense of styling and a high level of comfort, will share some of their ideal and popular wear with the viewers.

Dressing up the young & the restless, the bold & the beautiful, sexy models, celebrities, college kids and jet-setters, these designers aim to bring out stylish line of clothes for workplace, power dressing at one?s vocational front, easy-glam evening wear, special occasions, weddings and traditional wear.

The designers give a meaning to their interpretations through fashion and style that inspires others, according to the channel.Their creations range from pr?t to couture, traditional to contemporary, classic to avant-garde and desi to global.

MUMBAI: Big RTL, the television JV between Reliance Broadcast Network (RBNL) and Europe?s entertainment firm RTL Group, has named its new channel as Thrill.

The new channel marks RTL Group?s entry into the Asian television market. This is Reliance ADAG?s second International JV in the broadcasting space, the first being with CBS Studios International.

Positioned as the ?first action entertainment? channel, it will be launched by the end of June. The company believes that there is a void in the action space. Thrill will serve international content from across the globe, dubbed in Hindi.

The target audience that the channel will cater to is males in the age group of 15-44, across metropolitan and non-metropolitan areas in the Hindi-speaking markets, who are action and adventure lovers.

RBNL CEO Tarun Katial said, ?We are excited to offer India its first action entertainment Channel, Thrill which will showcase world-class international content, dubbed in Hindi. The channel fills a need gap that exist in the entertainment landscape and we are confident that our proposition, backed by consumer insights, will resonate excellently with viewers and marketers alike.?

In order to provide diverse programming content, the channel has signed strategic deals with various leading international content providers for successful global formats and series across a variety of genres: action reality, action thrillers, fighting and wrestling championships, shocking, never seen before films, extreme sports, late night entertainment and a robust library of hit Hollywood action movies, all dubbed in Hindi.

Big RTL has teamed up with DTH service provider Reliance Digital TV, a Reliance ADAG company, to distribute Thrill. The company says that this will help in giving the channel access to 3 million digital television homes across India. It is in the process of closing deals with other operators.

Thrill will be distributed as part of a 7-channel bouquet of RBNL which includes Big CBS Prime, Big CBS Love, Big CBS Spark, Big CBS Spark Punjabi, Big Magic and UTV Bloomberg.