India‘s number two private Hindi entertainment television channel Sony Entertainment Television (SET) is believed to have been valued at US$2.5 billion, the leading Indian financial daily The Economic Times reported today.

SET‘s promoters -Sony Pictures Entertainment (SPE) and a group of Indian entrepreneurs which includes cine star Jackie Shroff - have reportedly divested five per cent of the company‘s equity in favour of Capital International. Capital International has coughed up US$125 million for the five per cent stake which will be pumped into SET‘s Indian and Singapore outfits through its Japanese arm Capital Japan. SET has operations in India through SET India Ltd and in Singapore through SET Satellite (Singapore) Pte Ltd.

However, that‘ s an issue which will be resolved over time. For the nonce, SET India can be happy that it has managed to get some funds in its kitty which will go a long way in its battle with market leader Zee TV.

None of the officials in SET India or its promoters were willing to comment on the The Economic Times newsreport.

CNN International has another set of numbers to thump its chest about. The International Air Travelers survey (IATS Asia 7) - conducted by the European Data & Research Ltd (EDR) between March and April 2000 in the international departure/gate areas of ten major airports in Sydney, Melbourne, Manila, Bangkok, Hong Kong, Jakarta, Kuala Lumpur, Seoul, Singapore and Taipei - has revealed that CNN reaches more than twice the number of international air travelers than its nearest rival the Beeb.
The survey shows that CNNI reaches 37 per cent of international air travelers on a weekly basis as against BBC World‘s 19 per cent and CNBC Asia‘s 15.4 per cent. IATS Asia 7 also confirmed that CNN International reaches 50 per cent of all senior business executives surveyed, the CNN press release states.

"This is a very positive result for CNN International. (It) endorse(s) our investment in regionalisation, which has meant a significant amount of extra spending to increase the localized content available to our viewers, " says CNN International managing editor, Asia Pacific Bill Baggitt.

Philips Digital Networks has announced that its organization within Philips Electronics (Thailand) Ltd has been awarded the contract to design, build and commission a multimedia production facility for Suranaree University of Technology (SUT) of Bangkok. The turnkey project is worth several million US dollars.
Under the agreement, Philips will design and build a professional production and post-production facility comprising latest technology digital broadcast equipment. The facility will be used by SUT as a multi-media centre for research and education. The centre will contain a digital production/news studio with Philips‘ state-of-the-art digital cameras and production switcher. In addition, it will include a non-linear editing suite, a computer graphics system and a digital surround sound editing and recording lab. The various rooms will be interconnected through an advanced networking system.

The project will be implemented on a full turnkey basis, including the supervision of civil works. SUT has also asked Philips to provide operation management services for a number of years, during which skill transfer to SUT personnel will take place.

When commissioned in mid 2001, SUT‘s multimedia production facility will be the first of its kind in Thailand. It will provide students with the chance to produce audio, video and multimedia content using state-of-the-art TV, radio and computer graphics technology and advanced 2D and 3D animation tools. The centre will support the university‘s vision of the ‘virtual campus‘, where study and teaching are no longer restricted to classrooms and education can also be provided over the Internet.

Rik Dovey, formerly Senior Vice ?president of Production, Operations and Engineering at ESPN Star Sports (ESS) has taken over as managing director of ESS from Alexander Brown, who will now be a strategic adviser to ESS ahead of his departure before the year end.

In addition to management responsibilities he will also oversee the establishment of espnstar.com, the company?s new internet venture which is said to include complete localisation in major markets such as India, China, Taiwan and Korea.

Dovey brings along with him 30 years of broadcasting experience to the position.

Zee Telefilms along with its subsidiaries has registered what could be its lowest Q1 net profit in the recent past. The company showed a rise of a meagre 5% in its net profit for the first quarter of the year 2000-2001. The consolidated net profit for the current quarter is Rs 32 crore as against the corresponding figure of Rs 30.5 crore for the same period of the last year.

The Cable & Satellite Broadcasting Association of Asia (CASBAA) is expanding its membership list to include New Economy corporations and telcos as well as traditional pay-TV players.

In early July, Hong Kong-listed Pacific Century CyberWorks (PCCW) joined CASBAA as a Patron Member, the highest level of membership. Patron Membership grants a company an automatic seat on the CASBAA Board of Directors. On July 1, PCCW (www.pcg-group.com) launched a regional Broadband service, Network of the World, distributed via cable and satellite to TVs as well as PCs.

Also new to the Association is Hong Kong-listed cellular phone system operator Sunday Communications, which is examining opportunities for a 3G Broadband license in Hong Kong and elsewhere.

Meanwhile, financial and business information service Bloomberg LP (www.bloomberg.com/asia) has upgraded its membership from Associate status to Patron level and will also take a seat on the CASBAA Board of Directors.

Other new CASBAA members include:

• Sony Pictures Entertainment‘s regional pay-TV channel AXN Action TV which has joined CASBAA as a corporate member (www.axn-asia.com)

• UK-based satellite communications consultancy Communications Systems Ltd. (Comsys) (www.comsys.co.uk)

• Bombay-based media investor UTV‘s Vijay TV, which recently launched its Sharkstream broadband service (www.utvnet.com)

• Hong Kong-based Internet content provider WebArts TV.com (www.asianartnews.com)

• Hong Kong-based Asia Pacific Vision, a group that provides satellite up linking services as well as video production services (www.apvweb.com)

• Asia Capacity Exchange, a consortium that provides online bandwidth exchange services (www.ace-asia.com).

• CSM Sofres, a leading market research group specialising broadcast media with a special interest in China among other Asian markets (www.csm.com.cn)

• X [Ventures], led by Bangkok-based entrepreneur Jeff Blatt, provides consulting and representation services for clients in the satellite, broadcasting, Internet, multimedia, high technology and venture capital industries (www.xventures.com)