Star Plus received 100 million calls (10 crore) and SMS for its KBC2 in 65 episodes. Its partners in this endeavor were BSNL and Airtel. KBC beats its own record of 90 million calls in 2000, which came from 300 episodes. Star is optimistic for coming 25 episodes of KBC2, which will take KBC to new heights in terms of number of calls and SMS received.

A caller is charged Rs 2.40 if he called on the BSNL line and Rs 6 if he used Airtel SMS or voice-enabled service. Airtel paid 22 crores for a deal with Star Plus. Of the total 10 crore figures, SMSes accounted for 15 per cent. BSNL contributed about 7.5 crore calls, while Airtel the remaining 2.5 crore. Industry sources also said Airtel has so far received Rs 15-17 crore via SMS revenue.

Kaun Banega Crorepati dwitiye is launching on Star Plus in the US on DirecTV channel 2001. Star Plus will exclusively bring the show to DirecTV subscribers for the first time, starting December 2, every Friday to Sunday at 10:00 p.m. (EST) and 7:00 p.m. (PST). The hype surrounding the international phenomenon may have died down elsewhere, but Hindi-speaking audiences worldwide are lapping up the second chance to test their general knowledge and watch their idol, Bachchan, host the show again.

Close on the heels of the success of KBC-2 a number of television channels have launched or about to launch their versions of KBC2 clone in the coming months. Mission Ek crore hosted by Sanjay Dutt, Kam Ya Zyada by actor Manoj Bajpai.Date of this item added : 2005-11-23