Get set for Bigg Boss on your favourite Bangla channel! After its success on pan-Indian television, the Netherlands-based TV software-producing giant Endemol is set to venture into regional space.

“After spending two years in India, Endemol now feels that it’s time to have a go at the regional markets,” Neena Raut, Endemol Regional’s new creative head, tells t2 from Mumbai.

With the aim of producing television software infused with local flavour that “people in the different regions of the country will be able to identify with”, the company is looking to foray into the regional market relying on its biggest strength — and undoubtedly its biggest success: non-fiction programming.

“Endemol has proved its credentials as far as non-fiction programmes and reality shows are concerned. We plan to have regional formats of successful shows like Indian Idol and Bigg Boss, obviously tweaked to suit the tastes and preferences of the local viewer,” says Raut. Fiction programming on regional channels will be part of Endemol’s second phase expansion plans.

Looking to leave its fingerprint on the regional television space nationwide, the company is however concentrating on a few chosen markets in its initial phase. And the Bangla television space is one of them. “Bangla television is doing very well and we have been given to understand that the reach of the Bengali channels — especially Zee Bangla and ETV — is extremely high,” says Raut.

Besides Bengal, Maharashtra and Gujarat are the other regions where Endemol is aiming to make its presence felt in the initial phase. “All these regions have a large number of local channels which are well established names with tremendous reach,” offers Raut. Endemol plans to foray into the regional market in the first half of 2009.