Game of Bets

Its been over a month since Star India won the media rights for India's most expensive sports property, Indian Premier League (IPL), for Rs16,347.5 crore. Chairman & CEO Uday Shankar must have given over 50 interviews to the media about his 'expensive' win. There is relief on his face when we tell him we would like to know about his other strategic moves too. "Let's talk about Ted," he smiles. From November, Star Plus plans to air the Indian version of the inspirational TED Talk series. Shankar had to make several trips to the TED headquarters in Vancouver to convince the TED Curator, Chris Anderson, that Star could recreate a similar experience on television. "You will see the same eclectic appearance and content. TED would be in a language other than English, and on television, for the first time. For them to allow us to do it is satisfying." Actor Shah Rukh Khan has been known to be paid Rs30 crore a week for his role as the moderator of the show.

The first thing that comes to mind when one hears about these big investments is will a concept like TED Talks work on a general entertainment channel known for melodramatic soap operas? "We believe we shouldn't always chase ratings. We should also do the right kind of content. Personally, I have been somewhat disturbed that TV is associated with only pure entertainment," says Shankar who, a few years ago, experimented with Satyamev Jayate, a show that dealt with social issues. While the show didn't do well on ratings,