Date:07/07/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/07/07/stories/2008070750700200.htm
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Andhra Pradesh

In search of anchors out of the box

— Photo: Mohd. Yousuf

Take two: As more Telugu television channels enter the foray, there is an increased demand for talented anchors.

The search is on. And the look out is for pretty faces that can lighten up the tube. Telugu television industry, which for more than a decade rotated and revolved around few faces now, is opening up to offer exposure to new faces for present its content.

While not many male anchors could make it big on the anchoring front, the scene remained dominated by the fairer sex with few reigning for a long time.

Those from the first bunch have been around almost for a decade handling shows, from realty to talk and film-based, but the trends have started to change a bit.

Their bastions are a bit threatened now with the newer and much younger breed taking on the mike and confidently facing the camera. As new channels emerged on the scene and more and more shows are conceptualised by the channels to meet the demand, the anchors too turned busy.

Some of the anchors admit working almost 25 to 28 days in a month hopping from one studio to another and sprinting from one channel to another.

Few more channels are on the anvil and the available anchors are just not adequate to handle the requirements, points out a freelancer producer.

Some are on the verge of fading out, recently joined lot is hardly in a position to stretch their schedules beyond a point and the demand is now for newer ones. “At present, we find the same face at different times on different channels.

This will not continue for long and producers and channels will look for anchors with some exclusive commitments,” points out a senior with a popular channel.

The same is going to be the scene with news anchors as half-a-dozen news channels are preparing to unveil themselves.

The prospect for them will be to take a couple of established faces and merge them with fresher ones to handle round-the-clock beaming.

T. LALITH SINGH

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