With shows that were meant for television shifting to the web (and collecting millions of online viewers along the way) and ace production houses creating 'audiosodes' just for cell phone users, the 24-incher in your living room ought to feel threatened. Janaki Viswanathan tells you where else you will find just-like TV entertainment

On August 15, 2009, director Abhigyan Jha celebrated independence of a different kind: "I was free from moronic channel executives," says the director of stand-up comedy show Jay Hind that went on air, online.

Episode title: Free Your Mind. Jha, who is founder of Undercover Utopia, has previously produced cult stand-up show Movers and Shakers starring Shekhar Suman.

The director says he was given a contract by Imagine in April last year, but they didn't end up putting out the show in July as promised. "I decided that it was time to show the channels that they are not the ones who determine content. My obligation is to my audience, not to a middleman of a TV channel," he says.u00a0

Jay Hind is packed into 15-minute capsules, each of which sees anchor and popular film and television actor Sumeet Raghavan present a tongue-in-cheek take on politicians, actors, even the IPL. Viewers dig advice, and so, Bhojpuri actress Divya acts as agony aunt, filling in as scandalous comic character Savita Bhabhi. Jay Hind looks and sounds like any other television show, except that it airs only online in partnership with buzzintown.comu00a0

Sumeet Raghavan anchors stand-up comedy show, Jay Hind that airs online. Pic/Apoorva Guptay

"We've just completed 75 episodes, and have received nearly 20 million hits," smiles Raghavan.

Now you hear it, now you see it
Queen of television production and Creative Head at Balaji Telefilms, Ekta Kapoor is in the mood to grab a chunk of the viewer pie off familiar turf. She has tied up with mobile phone service provider Aircel to experiment with a new genre altogether. Kapoor will be producing an 'audiosodic' series for Aircel mobile users. Kriminal Kaun is a crime-based interactive series that will be available on a subscription basis to users of the said service provider only.

Every episode is split into four segments; the first two follow a crime just as it occurs, while the third allows listeners to guess the criminal, and the fourth sees the identity of the criminal revealed. New Media, Balaji's digital wing, is the brain behind the show. "So far, we've got voice mobisodes, but soon we'll be moving into visual mobisodes too," says Kapoor, sharing that tie-ups with other mobile service providers are already underway.