BRIEFS
INSAT 2E BLAST OFF DATE NEARS
Engineers at work in Kourou, French Guiana,
have encapsulated the Insat 2E in the Ariane 4P launch vehicle's
heatshield on 27 March. The satellite, built by the Indian
Space Research Organisation is to be sent into space on
3 April between 03:33 am and 04:23 am Indian time. The satellite
and launcher has undergone the regular pre-launch tests
and is reported to be all set for its countdown. Last week,
Asiasat 3S was successfully lifted off by a Proton rocket
from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. The satellite
will deploy its solar panels and communication antenna in
early April. Asiasat 3S has 28 C-band and 16 Ku-band linearised
transponders. Most of the occupants of Asiasat-1 - including
Zee TV - are slated to shift over to Asiasat 3S once it
stabilises.
ANIMAL PLANET MAKES DEBUT
The Discovery-BBC jointly promoted Animal
Planet was officially launched on 29 March after a long
delay courtesy the Indian customs. The launch was muted
without the hype associated with most channel rollouts.
The encrypted service is unlikely to have got wide distribution,
as most Indian cable operators have not struck deals with
Discovery, which is distributing it. The channel is being
hawked to cable TV operators at Rs 2.50 a subscriber. Discovery,
which this newsletter had reported had turned pay last week,
is actually converting to a basic subscription service from
2 April. Cable operators have already installed digital
receivers for Discovery in their head ends.
SUN TV DELAYS SECOND TAMIL CHANNEL LAUNCH
Sun TV Network chief Kalanithi Maran announced
last week that the debut of the second Tamil entertainment
channel from his group is to be delayed until later this
year. He said he took this decision because the new offering
may not attract enough advertising for the next few months.
Most advertisers have diverted a large portion of their
ad budgets towards the World Cup cricket telecasts and cricket-related
programming, which has been commissioned by almost every
television channel. Maran had earlier said that a second
Tamil channel was needed to absorb the excessive advertising
that couldn't be placed on the Sun Network's flagship Sun
TV channel. But with the World Cup fever on from now on
till June, the excessive advertising was not available any
more to sustain a channel, says Maran.
SONY ENTERTAINMENT TELEVISION LANDS
AN AWARD
Hindi entertainment television channel
Sony Entertainment Television (SET) has been named as the
winner of Multichannel News International's (MNI's) 1999
Groundbreaker award for excellence in the area of local
programming. The MNI awards were instituted in 1998 and
the editorial staff, based on industry feedback and observations,
selects the winners. The award will be given away at the
National Cable TV Association show in Chicago on 13 June.
Sony Entertainment Television chairman Michael Grindon and
SET India chief executive officer Kunal Dasgupta will attend
the ceremony. The other MNI 1999 award winners include:
Time Warner vice-chairman Ted Turner (Grand Prix Award);
MTV and Nickelodeon (pan regional programmer award); United
International Holdings (systems operator); Shaw Communications
(technology); Latin American Pay Television Service CEO
Genaro Rionda (marketing) and Multichannel Advertising Bureau
International vice-president and managing director Connie
Pettit (advertising).
MURDOCH SPEAKS OUT ON STAR PLUS CHAT
SHOW
Global media baron Rupert Murdoch will
speak out on an Indian chat show hosted by TV personality
Simi Grewal about his personal life, ambitions and likes
and dislikes, which is to be aired on Star Plus India at
9:30 pm on 30 March.
