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CNN DRAWS UP ELECTION COVERAGE PLAN
CNN International announced last week that
it is going to increase its coverage of India during the course
of the elections starting next month. A 15-member team of
producers and journalists from Atlanta and Bangkok will collaborate
with anchor Riz Khan and Delhi bureau chief Satinder Bindra
to give round-the-clock election updates. Bindra plans to
cover the major electoral regions in the country while Khan
will host live Q&As for four days from India beginning 4 October.
Live coverage is likely to take place thrice a day followed
by repeat telecasts. The move is part of the channel's regionalisation
drive in Asia. An investment of $10 million has been kept
aside for localisation efforts in Asia this year. The management
points out that its is considering time-shifting the channel
to suit Indian viewing patterns in future.
...AS DOES IN MUMBAI
Cable TV MSO IN Cable Net has flagged off "IN
Time Election Special" - a daily half-hour news programme
on cable channel IN Mumbai - to cover the forthcoming Parliamentary
and state-level elections which are being held simultaneously
in Maharashtra.
AXN CHANNEL FACES TROUBLE IN LUDHIANA
The Federation of Punjab Cable Operators of
Ludhiana claims its members have switched off AXN TV from
their cable TV networks from 21 August in the north Indian
city of Ludhiana. Its press release says it took such a step
because the local AXN distributor has allegedly been pressuring
cable operators to pay increased per subscriber carriage fees,
apart from forcing them to disclose a subscriber number higher
than what they actually have. The federation's president says
that if the distributor does not climb down from his high
horse, the channel will be turned off throughout the state
of Punjab.
B4U READIES FOR UK LAUNCH
Bollywood movie channel B4U is to make its
debut in the UK this week. The channel is targeted at the
1.5 million strong UK-based south Asian community, which can't
seem to get enough of Bollywood fare. The channel is promoting
by steel baron Lakshmi Mittal, Gokul Binani and film distributor
Kishore Lulla. B4U is being marketed jointly with Sony Entertainment's
UK service with the two channels being bundled together and
offered at a special price to prospective subscribers.
TAMIL CHANNEL RETURNS
Tamil channel Jaya TV, which did the vanishing
trick a couple of years ago, is back. The service was relaunched
on 22 August off an Insat 2E transponder. Jaya TV has been
programmed for family viewing, the management reveals, and
can be watched by people six to 60 years old. It is slated
to air series, movies and talk shows. It will air three Tamil
news bulletins daily and one in English daily. Close associates
of AIADMK (a political party) general secretary Jayalalitha
have promoted the channel. It had gone off the air earlier
when Jayalalitha lost the elections and her chief minister-ship
of the state of Tamil Nadu.
ENTERTAINMENT SECTOR SHINES ON THE BOURSE
Entertainment stocks have been seen a rapid
rise in their share prices over the past two years. This has
resulted in the entertainment sector, as a whole, climbing
up in the market capitalisation sweepstakes from a lowly rank
of 93 to 24. The market capitalisation of entertainment stocks,
which include Zee Telefilms, Sri Adhikari Brothers, Crest
Communications, amongst others has climbed to Rs 52,380 million
in August 1999 as against Rs 2,030 million in March 1997.
TV PRODUCTION HOUSE GETS FOREIGN FUNDING
The Dheeraj Kumar-owned television software
firm Creative Eye has got the Foreign Investment Promotion
Board (FIPB) nod to divest 28% equity in favour of a Mauritius-based
foreign institutional investor, TCW/ICICI. Creative Eye has
been on the lookout for funds to set up a production studio
and produce big budget TV series, targeted at Indian and international
audiences. The FIPB clearance is for an initial investment
of Rs 51.4 million. Creative Eye is a supplier of TV programming
to major programmers like DD.
SEBI EASES IPO NORMS; LEAVES MEDIA FIRMS
OUT
The Securities & Exchange Board of India last
week permitted infotech companies to issue just 10% of their
equity during an initial public offering (IPO) as against
the 25% limit currently. But companies will have to make an
offer of at least Rs 500 million and at least 2 million shares
to the investing public. Media companies, which were seeking
a similar relaxation, have for the moment been left out of
the new dispensation.
VNU GOES THE WHOLE HOG
While VNU is making a bid to swallow A.C. Nielsen
internationally, it has increased its holding in Indian market
research agency ORG-Marg from 74% to 79% by buying out 5%
of promoter Tito Ahuliwalia's stake. The other equity holders
in ORG-Marg are employees and news channel, TVi promoter Ashok
Advani. ORG-Marg manages one of the two peoplemeter television
viewing systems in India.
The acquisition of A.C. Nielsen by VNU will have an immediate
impact on the Indian television rating scenario as the former
has a joint peoplemeter system in place with ORG-Marg rival
the Indian Market Research Bureau. The two have been scrapping
to become the industry standard even as advertisers and television
channels have carped that India does not need two people meter
systems. If VNU acquires Nielsen, the two rival systems in
India will be in a position to fuse which is exactly what
the industry has been demanding.
INDO-US BUSINESS SUMMIT IN NOVEMBER
The Indo-US Joint Business Council is putting
together a business summit scheduled for 15 and 16 November
in Mumbai. Some 100 US investors are slated to attend the
forum. It will focus on information technology/software, intellectual
property rights, telecom, broadcasting and entertainment,
and infrastructure and trade in services.
FIBRE OPTIC MANUFACTURING UNIT PLANNED
New Delhi-based Paramount Communications is planning to set
up a fibre optic cable manufacturing facility at a cost of
Rs 200 million, reports a local business daily. The company
recently bagged a Rs 700 million order for jelly-filled copper
cable from the Department of telecommunication and is looking
forward to a contract from local telecom service provider
MTNL.
CABLE TV MSO EYES NETWORK EXPANSION & TAMIL
CHANNEL
The Rajan Raheja-owned Hathaway Cable & Datacom is planning
to expand its operations in the south Indian city of Chennai
by partnering independent cable operators. The MSO is also
introducing a Tamil cable TV channel with news bulletins,
low-budget television series and movies. It has bought the
cable TV rights to 250 Tamil titles at Rs 6,000 each for a
single telecast and is also setting up a studio in the city
for its in-house productions. Subscribers will be able to
tune into four audio music channels, which the MSO plans to
launch in Chennai. The network claims 65% of the city's cable
TV subscribers are hooked on to Hathway. Meanwhile, the MSO
is believed to be supporting the efforts of Win Cable - the
cable company set up by Jagjit Singh Kohli, Yogesh Radhakrishnan,
and Yogesh Shah - to break up IN Cablenet's stranglehold over
Mumbai.
ISRO SAYS IT IS Y2K READY
The Indian Space Research Organisation said last week that
its Insat system - both ground and space segments - are Y2K
compliant. It added that while the space segment had been
declared Y2K indifferent, the ground segment has been modified
to make it Y2K ready.
LOCAL TELECOM COMPANY FLOATS CELLULAR TENDER
The Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd (MTNL) has floated a tender
inviting companies to bid for its turnkey GSM cellular service
in the 900 Mhz band. The tender document says the system should
be initially designed to cater to 100,000 subscribers in New
Delhi and Mumbai but should be expandable and upgradable to
GSM+2 services. The tender document can be purchased from
MTNL, Corporate office, Room No 1314, Jeevan Bharati Building,
Connaught Circus, New Delhi-110001 from 27 August to 2 September.
VSNL SCOUTS FOR EARTH STATION VENDORS
Oversea telecom services monopoly Videsh Sanchar Nigam Ltd
(VSNL) has floated a tender to set up a Standard B earth station
in Madhapur, Hyderabad and to upgrade its analogue video uplink
facilities in its Chennai Centre. The tender details can be
got by clicking
here. The earth station tender will be available
till 27 September 1999.
NEWS CORP TIES UP WITH ORACLE FOR CHINESE
E-COMMERCE
News Corp has forged a strategic partnership with Oracle
under which the latter will provide an Internet-based technology
platform and e-commerce support services for ChinaByte, an
Internet content provider (mainly information technology)
launched by PDN, a joint venture between News Corp and Chinese
newspaper People's Daily. This includes Oracle8i, the world's
first 100% Internet databank. In turn, ChinaByte will provide
on-line promotion for Oracle, to help enhance Oracle's leading
position in e-commerce and other related areas.
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