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MURDOCH GETS NOD FOR INVESTMENT IN
ZEE TV
Global media baron Rupert Murdoch has
been cleared by the Foreign Investment Promotion Board
to pick up a 4% stake in Zee Telefilms. Zee TV chairman
Subhash Chandra handed over the stake to Murdoch as
part of a settlement which returned control of the Zee
Network to him. The value of Murdoch's investment has
gone up by 50 per cent within three months of the two
hammering out a settlement thanks to the appreciation
in the Zee Telefilms share price.
STAR SPORTS ALSO GOES FOR RATE HIKE
Following in the footsteps of ESPN, Star
Sports too is hiking its basic subscription fee by Rs
1.51 from January 1, 2000. The new price per subscriber
has gone up to Rs 6.50 per month as against the current
Rs 4.99. According to ESPN Software India managing director
Manu Sawhney the new price is the floor price that will
be charged to the cable networks.
PRIVATE BROADCASTERS GET KNUCKLE RAP
Foreign exchange violations by television
broadcasters are once again coming to the forefront.
The Delhi high court has issued notices to Star TV,
Sony and Zee TV following a public interest litigation
filed by advocate Ajay Jain. Jain says that the channels
are owned by foreign companies and are up linking from
foreign soil. He has alleged that these companies are
collecting advertisements through their Indian counterparts
and transferring huge amounts of money overseas in a
gross violation of Section 8C(2) of the Exchange Control
Manual. Similar petitions against broadcasters have
cut little ice with the courts in the past.
B4U LAUNCHES IN WEST ASIA
Bollywood channel B4U has launched in
West Asia in partnership with Arab Radio & Television.
B4U will be available to viewers in Saudi Arabia, UAE,
Kuwait, Oman, Bahrain, Qatar, Israel, Lebanon, Yemen,
Jordan and Egypt - a population of over 84 million.
Arab Radio & Television Europe will also introduce B4U
in other European countries where it does not have a
presence. Finally, it is seeking to make its debut in
South Africa, Australia and east Asia.
LOCKHEED MARTIN & SHYAM SIGN AGREEMENT
Lockheed Martin Global Telecommunications
and Shyam ACeS (India) have signed a $ 30 million agreement
to build an international gateway for the Asian Cellular
Satellite satphone services in India.
INDIAN WINNERS AT TELEVISION ASIA AWARDS
Karan Thapar, Indian chat show host and
head of production company UTV's current affairs division,
jointly bagged the Best Current Affairs or Magazine
Programme Presenter with CNBC Asia's Bettina Chua Abdullah
at the 1999 Television Asia Awards in Singapore last
week. Star TV India's news programming partner, NDTV,
won the Best Documentary Programme category for its
series Out of India. Synergy Communications BBC show
Mastermind India was runner up in the Best Game or Quiz
show category. Other India programmes/performers receiving
high marks and a commendation include: *Turning Point
(Best Sports Programme; NDTV for Star Plus) *Family
No 1 (Best Comedy Programme; Sony Entertainment Television)
*Alka Amin (Best Drama Actress for her role in Bhanwar
for Sony Entertainment) *Niret Alva (Best Current Affairs
or Magazine Programme Presenter for Star Plus) .
EUROPEAN MOVIES TO AIR ON DD
European broadcasters and programmers
are in talks with DD to air French programming and movies
late in the night daily initially. This will be followed
by other European language content later.
JAIN TV TAKES THE MEDICAL ROUTE
Jain TV today launched a daily 15-minute
medical news bulletins which will be aired thrice a
day. The idea behind this is to effectively bridge the
communications gap between institutions providing health
care and the intended beneficiaries. The Hindi version
has been called Swasthya Samachar.
TV5 ANGLES FOR SITICABLE DEAL
French broadcaster TV5 is negotiating
a marketing and distribution tieup with the Zee TV owned
MSO SitiCable. It has also signed up with 52 other cable
operators and its management says it is open to any
DTH platform on a non-exclusive basis.
HBO ASIA NETS IT IN
HBO Asia last week launched the web sites
for the Asian divisions of Home Box Office (HBO) and
Cinemax. Both sites contain film lists and synopses
for the current month and the following month, as well
as recommendations for current films, information about
upcoming titles and highlights of exclusive programs
such as miniseries, concerts and documentaries on HBO.Information
about cable TV operators is also available at the site.
ZDNET'S IT INDIA PORTAL
The Ziff Davis-owned tech news portal
ZDNet, is to start an India portal in January 2000 (www.zdnetindia.com).
The Indian portal would cover India specific technology
developments as well as IT business related news on
a daily basis. It is negotiating contracts with various
newspapers and technical magazines for content.
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