But climbing TVRs have given the much-needed optimism to SET and the channel is pinning big hopes on CPK, starring cine star Govinda. CEO Mr Kunal Dasgupta now expects the revenue for this fiscal to fall by only "about 7.5 per cent". "We have become second only to star in viewership, and this trend has been sustained for over six weeks now. This should help us generate better revenues. The expected fall this fiscal will now be only about 7.5 per cent as against the 15 per cent we had projected earlier," Mr Dasgupta told PTI on phone from Mumbai.

While he shrugged off queries on how this feat had been achieved, Mr Dasgupta admitted that Zee TV's pitfalls with `Sawaal Dus Crore Ka' had given SET something to cheer about.

"We have not changed any strategy to usurp Zee's second position in weekly ratings charts. But SDCK's debacle has indeed helped us gain on viewership," he said.

For the week ending December 23, Sony had 12 entries in the top 50 list of AC Nielsen C&S survey across nine cities in the `individuals 4 Secondary ABC' category against Zee' 11. Chappar Phaad Ke, which will be launched sometime this month, will be on air only three days of the week beginning Friday and is expected to generate `significant' revenues for SET, he said. "Shows like CPK boost the channel for 3-4 months at least. We hope CPK will do the same for SET, but afterwards economics of the show depend upon its popularity and a host of other factors surrounding it," he said.