WORKING OUT A SOLUTION AT INCABLENET

The split within the Hinduja-run InCableNet has been averted temporarily at least. Last week, the three founders of Encore Network - Jagjit Singh Kohli, Yogesh Radhakrishnan, and Yogesh Shah - which formed the backbone of the MSO's operations, had threatened to walk out of the venture.

However, the brothers Hinduja seem to have hammered out a solution. IndusInd Media will not demand a majority stake in ATN, the 24-hour ailing Hindi music channel that the three had taken over from Siddharth Shrivastava. As part of the settlement, Kohli has been promoted as chairman & managing director of IndusInd Media (the holding company of InCableNet and several other media ventures), while Shah and Radhakrishnan have been designated as executive directors looking after business development. Ram Hingorani, a Hinduja man, who was earlier heading the cable TV Hindi movie channel CVO, has been elevated as CEO of IndusInd Media. CVO has a new COO in Ravi Mansukhani, while Ashok Mansukhani, a former senior DD official has been retained in his position as IndusInd COO. A new CEO, Suresh Menon, has been brought in to ATN.

The Hindujas have also yielded in another area: the family of Ram Punjabi, one of the founders of InCableNet who was gunned down by assailants, has been compensated financially. Earlier, the Hindujas were reportedly reluctant to agree to this demand.