In a bid to meet demands from V-Sat operators
who have been complaining of a shortage of transponder capacity
on the Insat satellite series, DD is in the process of shuffling
its services on to other satellites. For starters, DD's J&K
service is now being beamed from Thaicom 3, while its Jaipur
service is scheduled to be shifted to an Insat 2DT transponder
from Insat 2C. The shift will open up an extended C-band transponder
for V-Sat operators. The Indian Space Research Organisation
has leased seven transponders on the Thaicom 3 satellite,
with one being assigned to the information & broadcasting
ministry, and six to the department of telecommunications.
ADULT
CHANNEL SAYS IT IS ON
The management of Plus 21, the adult channel,
which has been threatening to launch for the past year,
says it has started beaming the service every Saturday off
Intelsat 704 located at 66 degrees east. It placed an ad
in a local daily saying the service has been introduced
and asking cable operators to make inquiries for its late
night fully-encrypted adult programming. Plus 21 is managed
by a London-based company ANC International Ltd and Chandigarh-based
Global Internet Ltd. The channel is being beamed in a digital
free-to-air mode with two adult shows, one at 9 pm and the
other at 10 pm. It had run into controversy with the government
when it tried to launch last year.
TV 18 TAKES STOCK OPTIONS ROUTE
Production house TV18 is offering stock
options to 30 of its employees, becoming the first TV software
company in India to do this. The firm is giving away 10%
of its equity base as stock options and employees will be
able to exercise their options in 10 years. TV18 provides
programming to Star TV and BBC and is the programming and
marketing partner of CNBC Asia in India.
TELEVISION FIRMS MARK PRESENCE AT FILM
FAIR IN HYDERABAD
The Zee Network, state-owned broadcaster
Doordarshan, the Prasar Bharati and production house UTV
were among the firms that marked their presence at the film
trade show which was held between 11 and 17 January in Hyderabad.
The event was held to coincide with the International Film
Festival, which began on 10 January and is to end on 20
January.
CHANNEL LAUNCHES DELAYED
The Comedy Channel (TCC) and The Movie
Channel (TMC), which were initially slated to be launched
on 1 February will now be flagged of some time in March.
Promoted by the Mumbai-based Satellite Management Group,
which also has an interest in Satellite & Cable TV magazine,
the two channels will share time on a transponder and will
be encrypted. TCC will air a mix of Hindi comedy series
and sitcoms between 6:30 pm daily and midnight, while TMC
will air Hindi films daily for the rest of the period.
CNBC ASIA AWARDS COMPLETE MANAGER TITLE
CNBC Asia has located its complete manager
after an all-India search. He is Subhranshu Singh of the
Indian Institute of Foreign Trade, New Delhi. CNBC Asia
president and CEO Paul France gave away a trophy and a bunch
of freebies to the winner of the CNBC Complete Manager Contest.
