BRIEFS

DD SPORTS READIES FOR 18 MARCH LAUNCH DATE

DD Sports a satellite-delivered sports channel will be launched on 18 March by Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee. The first event to be carried on the channel is a friendly cricket match between national level Indian cricketers. The state-owned broadcaster will rely on private firms to help it acquire rights to sports events for DD Sports. Unirapport Events, a unit of production major UTV, is organizing and marketing the event.

I&B MINISTER SAYS PROGRAMMING CODE WILL APPLY TO FOREIGN CHANNELS

I&B minister of state M.A. Naqvi told members of parliament that the programming code currently applicable to Indian television programmers would be applicable to foreign channels too. He added that the Cable TV Networks (Regulation) Act, 1995 is being amended by his ministry for this purpose. The I&B ministry is also reported to have prepared a note on this amendment which is being studied by various ministries. The note will be sent to the Union Cabinet by end-March. It also includes a clause under which one to several DD channels will have to be carried on VHF frequencies and on the prime band by cable operators. A majority of Indian television sets are constrained by the ability to carry only 10-14 channels. This is the reason why the prime band is important in India.

DD DOES RETHINK ON DROPPING SUPERHERO SERIES

DD says that it is reconsidering taking action series Shaktimaan off the network. The series, which features an Indian superman, ran into controversy with DD threatening to terminate its telecast contract by 23 March, following reports that children were harming themselves in the hope of Shaktimaan rescuing them. The series producer Mukesh Khanna hired a detective agency got hold of the facts and sued the news agency (UNI), which ran the reports, for Rs 2 million. The news agency replied that the news reports were a mistake and a lapse on its part. It is going to submit an apology to the Delhi high court. And DD is considering continuing with the telecast agreement.

DTH HARDWARE: LG ELECTRONICS VOICES ITS INTEREST

South Korean electronics major LG Electronics is planning to introduce direct-to-home television set-top boxes in the Indian market. The company, which manufactures televisions in its north Indian plant, says it will start making its boxes as soon as the government lifts the DTH ban. LG Electronics is already a preferred DTH vendor for News Corp and hopes to become a preferred supplier for its Indian service ISkyB.

TURNER BACKS INDIAN AD AWARDS

Turner Broadcasting System is the main sponsor of the Ad Club Mumbai awards show to be held in Mumbai on 19 March. The club has 2,200 members and its awards called the Abbys are in their thirty-second year. The Abbys are given out for excellence in advertising each year.