The new Indian information and broadcasting Sushma Swaraj seems hell-bent on earning that sobriquet. Reason: not even two days into the job and she is already talking of cleaning up Indian television. DTH, the amended cable TV act, the Prasar Bharati - all these were being looked at by her afresh and it would take her a couple of weeks to make up her mind about anything, the lady said.
But for the nonce, "TV is a family medium," she said to journalists yesterday. "And my priority will be to make it that. My ministry‘s job will be to ensure that it is carried out."

Extremely noble thoughts. But wasn‘t the government supposed to set up an independent regulatory authority along with a watchdog for this very purpose? Why is the minister and her ministry coming to the forefront on this issue? A government playing conscience keeper makes for a very eerie scenario. Who knows where when the fundamentalists in the BJP may forget where the morality lines and where they begin, and whether what works well for DD works well for private satellite channels too?

Swaraj on her part tends to posture a lot. During her earlier term she ranted and raved against the former Prasar Bharati chief M.S. Gill and eventually had him sacked by reverting the pubcaster to government control and reducing the age limit that the CEO could run it. At the same time she screamed against the obscenity on Indian television, saying she would have heads roll. But she did very little about it. Additionally, she drew up what would become a phased policy on uplinking, opening up uplinking to even foreign companies from Indian soil. She also allowed foreign ad agencies to own Indian ad agencies.

Swaraj seems to want to appear to be a cross old Aunt, but one who is jolly good at heart. Just a bit like Uncle George in Dennis the Menace comics. She will surely give some executives in foreign channels heart burn. In the long run however she should turn out all right. That‘s if she survives her full term.

Another bird has gone up in the sky with its eye on the Indian market. Americom Asia-Pacific (AAP)‘s GE-1A satellite was launched successfully yesterday by ILS from from the Cosmodrome in Baikonur, Kazakhstan, singalling the operational beginning of Americom Asia-Pacific, the joint venture formed by GE Americom and Lockheed Martin Global Telecommunications.
Andreas Georghiou, AAP‘s President who also serves as GE Americom‘s Senior Vice President of Global Satellite Services, said "With next month‘s operation of GE-1A, we look forward to realizing our plan of bringing high-quality Ku-band satellite service to this important region."

GE-1A, a powerful K[J Purvis2]popou-band satellite, is to be be located at 108.2 degrees east longitude and is expected to provide services via three beams to greater China, south Asia including India, and northeast Asia and the Philippines. The spacecraft has 28 active 36 MHz Ku-band transponders with 120-watt TWTAs. The GE-1A satellite is an A2100AX spacecraft, manufactured by Lockheed Martin, for a minimum useful life of 15 years.

The satellite is expected to be fully operational by November 15, 2000, and will deliver Internet applications, VSAT, data and telecommunications services, cable and broadcast programming.

AAP was formed in 1998, to provide high-powered capacity and state-of-the-art services to ISP‘s and their customers, programmers, telcos and carriers throughout the Asia-Pacific region. It has established its headquarters in Singapore with additional sales and technical support teams in Beijing and New Delhi.

ESPN announced the launch of the world‘s most advanced scoring and analysis graphical system, NAMADGI with the ICC Knockout tournament beginning October 3.The Namadgi system named after a hillock near Canberra, Australia was created over an 18 month period by a team of software developers headed by Steven Hodgeman and Donavan Edge and ESPN ‘s producer Joy Bhattacharya. The analysis system can provide 260 charts of the live day‘s play, based on 11 parameters each from bowling, batting and fielding. For instance, the bowling data will be compiled including where the ball was, what it did off the air, the bounce of the ball, and what it did off the pitch. The qualitative analysis will emanate based on the weightage factor, which team plays who, and whether the matches are played at home, on neutral ground or away from home.

Manu Sawhney, Managing Director of ESPN Software Ltd. said that the Namadgi was a fourth generation system, having successfully passed through testing score cards, ball by ball, with two or three variables, and now with 11 variables for batting, bowling and fielding. The analysis system will be integrated with the Cricket Ratings system in partnership with Samsung India. The live ball by ball analysis will be framed over an 18 month period, and include data from all International cricket matches played by teams telecast on ESPN, Star Sports and other channels. "The Namadgi scoring and graphical system will raise the bar in cricket analysis by offering players, commentators and viewers a tremendous opportunity, "Sawhney pointed out." For us, it will offer various avenues for clients to be associated with." Added well known commentator Harsha Bhogle, "the Namadgi data will help commentators frame a complete picture of the match."

ESPN will include an interactive element at the ICC Tournament as well. Viewers can ask questions to expert commentators on the game situation, player performance, team strategy or forecast via live phone-ins. ESPN producer Bhatacharya said that the data and analysis will be available on the Internet at www.espnstarsports.com for consumer and corporate use.

E-Citi Entertainment (I) Pvt. Ltd, promoted by Subhash Chandra‘s Essel Group, has inked an exclusive strategic alliance with Canada-based IMAX Corporation, which provides technology for giant screen entertainment industries around the globe.
Under the strategic alliance E-Citi will build at least six such large format IMAX screens over the next 40 to 60 months in Hyderabad, Mumbai, New Delhi, Chennai, Bangalore & Calcutta. The tickets are proposed to be priced within an affordable range.

Imax‘s 15/70 film format is the world‘s largest and ten times larger than a conventional 35mm film.

E-Citi is in the process of setting up integrated Family Entertainment Centers all over the country. In the first phase, 23 cities are being targeted. E-Citi is currently implementing its plans in Mumbai, Delhi, Ahmedabad, Chandigarh, Lucknow, Bangalore, Chennai and Baroda.

It seemed as if the most successful show on Indian television would see a new anchor thanks to the exchange of gunfire that was taking place between Star TV India CEO Peter Mukerjea and cine star-turned anchor Amitabh Bachchan. Mukerjea was insistent that the show was larger than AB. AB was insisted he wanted a piece of the advertising revenue windfall that Star TV was making out of Kaun Banega Crorepati. The negotiations had reached feverish pitch and rumours were that AB was considering an offer from James Packer to do a show for 9 Gold on DD.
Mukerjea had told certain advertisers that it was quite possible that KBC would have AB only till February. But apparently, things have been sorted out between the two. At least that‘s what AB has told BBC World in an interview which will be telecast next week.

Meanwhile the show has got its first millionaire in a Mumbai youth Harshvardhan Nawathe who cracked the jackpot in an episode that is to be aired on 19 October. Indiantelevision.com‘s The Indian Cab&Sat Reporter had predicted that KBC would have a crorepati by mid-October during the peak of the festival season. Star TV had insisted that there was no way of predicting who would become a crorepati, because the entire quiz show is absolutely free of any rigging.

If the announcements are anything to go by, India is likely to have a new information and broadcasting minister. The dashing and young Arun Jaitley who was seen as being to aggressive in opening up the broadcasting sector will in all likelihood be given the boot. Indications are that he will replaced by Sushma Swaraj who was information & broadcasting minister (I&B) two years ago in the same government. She was inducted into the Indian Union Cabinet earlier this evening. In fact, Star News had already made an announcement at the time of writing that she would be given the I&B berth.

What does this mean for broadcasters, especially those owned by foreigners? Probably some slowing down in the mid-term of the liberalisation wave that was hitting them. The lady is a little more conservative than Jaitley, but during her time earlier she was instrumental in spelling out a phased policy for progressively opening up uplinking for broadcasters - be they foreign or Indian.

Jaitley, during his term, announced cable TV regulation amendments which banned liquor and tobacco advertising on television, allowed even 100 per cent foreign owned broadcasters to uplink from India subject to some restrictions, brought back Prasar Bharati under greater government control. He was expected to push through a convergence bill in the near future that would clarify several issues which have been confronting the cable and satellite television industry.