INSAT 2E LAUNCHED SUCCESSFULLY; FACES HITCH IN SPACE

Even as the ruling BJP party government was under threat of being wanted more real-life action series featuring human stunts rather than just drama series. We've brought in these changes."

A marketing and promotion exercise is dovetailing the AXN re-launch. "Print ads, contests, cross-promotions, we are doing all of these. Live events are planned around the action series and this will be used to touch base with the trade and viewers and also provide local content for our real-life action series," says Buklarewicz. (A distribution team of 25 to deal with cable TV operators has been set aside to increase the penetration for the channel.)

He adds that he is reasonably happy with AXN's showing so far. "Our digitally encrypted service is available through 1,522 cable headends reaching 4.5 million paying homes in India. Altogether, our Asian penetration is about 9.3 million; this includes Sri Lanka, Nepal, Pakistan, Bangladesh."

Dasgupta is confident that within the next year AXN will leave TNT, Star Movies and Star World way behind in the viewership sweepstakes.

The market will be a test of that confidence.