Sun TV Network will come out with a game show on its four southern flagship entertainment channels after the weekend movie or serial, the company said here Tuesday.
The one-hour programme, patterned on the international game show "Deal or No Deal" that has been telecast in 73 countries, will run for 26 weeks between 8.30 p.m. and 9.30 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays on Sun TV (Tamil), Surya (Malayalam), Gemini (Telugu) and Udaya (Kannada).
Each participant has a chance to win a maximum of Rs.50 lakh, while a viewer can earn Rs.100,000 per episode by winning a contest.
"The game show will be hosted by actors. Rishi will host in Sun TV while it will be Sai Kiran in Gemini and Udaya. Malayalam actor Mukesh will be the host in Surya," Sun TV vice-president L.V. Navaneenth told IANS.
While the broadcaster will pay a fixed fee and royalty to format owner Endemol, a Netherlands-headquartered entertainment company, it will earn revenue from advertisements and title sponsors.
"The programming cost will be borne by Sun TV Network," Navaneenth added.
Earlier, addressing the media here, Sun's chief operating officer Ajay Vidyasagar said: "We believe the time is right to launch large non-fiction shows on top of our already very strong fiction-based programming content."
According to Endemol India managing director Deepak Dhar, the original "Deal or No Deal" show has given away over Rs.500 crore in cumulative prize money, making it one of the most successful game shows in television history.
The game involves 26 suitcases, each of which contains an unknown amount between Rs.1 and Rs.50 lakh.
To begin with, a contestant chooses any one of the 26 suitcases, not knowing how much money is inside.
The contestant's objective is to walk away from the game with the maximum possible amount of money through a process of opening the other 25 boxes and deciding to deal or not to deal with a mysterious banker who offers to buy the suitcase offering varying amounts of money at different stages of the game.
Those who are interested in participating on the show can apply online at http://www.sunnetwork.org/dnd/