Due to intense competition between two of the major TV networks in Brazil, there are a slew of new novelas and TV shows coming out in Brazil as each network tries to edge out the other. The two networks in question, Globo and Record, have been competing for viewers as Record has won over traditional Globo viewers. In 2008, Globo lost 5% of its audience, while Record’s audience increased by 18%.

Today, Globo is airing a new novela intended to win back its straying viewers: “Caminho das Indias,” a novela set in India and Rio de Janeiro. The network will air approximately two hundred episodes six days a week through September and expects thirty million viewers. At R$250,000 per episode, the network hopes the new novela will put Globo firmly back on top.

The two networks have been neck in neck in terms of programming. While Globo launched a miniseries called “Maysa,” based on the life of a Carioca singer created at US$650,000 per episode, Record aired a sixteen part minseries called “O Lei e o crime” about violence in Rio, inspired by and using some of the cast from the extremely popular Brazilian film “Tropa de Elite.”

Last week, Globo began the latest season of the highly popular reality show “Big Brother Brasil,” adding two senior citizens to the house to mix things up. Meanwhile, Record aired “Troca de Familia” on the same day, the Brazilian version of the American show “Trading Spouses,” except that the latest season involves husbands changing families instead of the wives.

While Globo will rely on novelas and sports, Record will focus on locally adapted reality shows, like “The Apprentice” and “American Idol.” Record, however, recently purchased the rights to air the 2011 Pan American Games and the 2012 Olympic Games, continuing the battle of the networks.