Waking up to the competitive environment in the most promising country after China, CNN has decided to launch a television service specific to south Asia beginning 1 July. Popular programmes are to be rescheduled for prime television viewing (beginning 20:00 hours daily), apart from offering locally produced shows specific to south Asian countries like India, Pakistan, Bangladesh.

"This huge region has many CNN viewers who have wanted their own channel for some time. CNN‘s new channel for South Asia is the network‘s biggest strategic move for many years," CNN International President Chris Cramer.

Under the new programming line up, CNN will have regional news on the hour, CNN‘s ‘World News‘ every half-hour, plus special programming strands on technology and science and CNN‘s feature programming.
New shows, produced locally, will also be developed for the South Asia service.

"The launch of the South Asia channel is the next step in CNN International‘s ongoing regionalisation strategy and demonstrates our long-term commitment to the increasingly important South Asia region," said CNN International senior vice-president Rena Golden "CNN will continue to be vigilant in the region by bringing on board talent familiar with regional sensitivities and the socio-political environment."

Audiences will get more than their fill of CNN‘s popular anchor, Riz Khan, who will feature as a prominent presenter on the new channel. Additionally, business programmes will continue with ‘Biz Asia‘ airing in prime-time and more regular business updates to be introduced from CNNfn‘s correspondent in Mumbai.

But other issues will have to be tackled first: the pricing package for the digital service, and the response by other news services such as Star News, the BBC, Zee News, and the gaggle of other news channels that are expected to launch in the not too distant future. The BBC has a tremendous lead on it because it had started localising a long time back, the other services are run by locals.The Indian and south Asian trek for CNN has just begun.

On Monday 1 May, at a function held in Ahmedabad for celebrating the 40th Anniversary of Gujarat‘s Foundation Day, Doordarshan launched its long-awaited ‘round-the-clock‘ Gujarati satellite channel on DD-11.
Present on the occasion, were Information & Broadcasting Minister Arun Jaitley, Gujarat Chief Minister Keshubhai Patel, singer Anuradha Paudwal and others. The channel will beam programmes in Gujarati from 8 am to 3:30 am the next day through an Insat-2C transponder C-11, to be shown in 38 countries around the world.

The channel programming will include feature films, serials and sponsored programming besides classical and folk music and dances, informative and educational programs, stock market news, etc.

Gujarat Chief Minister Keshubhai Patel voiced his thoughts about uplinking facilities being provided soon so that the channel could be received in other parts of the world including America. Because Gujarati channels were more popular than other regional channels, Alpha TV Gujarati had been launched recently by the Zee Network while Rathikant Basu-promoted Broadcast Worldwide was planning to launch Tara channel soon.

Intel Capital is investing close to $49 million in the Hinduja-run IndusInd Media as it makes its forays into the brave world of broadband and Internet delivery. The players involved have gone if for a convoluted structure for the investment. Intel Capital is actually picking up a 49 per cent stake in Grant Investrade Pvt Ltd, a subsidiary of Hinduja Finance, which in turn is owned by the Hindujas. The remaining 51 per cent stake in Grant Investrade continues to stay with Hinduja Finance. Grant Investrade holds 3.5 percent in IndusInd Media & Communications Ltd (IMC) and will increase its holding to 6.7 percent by directing the investment from Intel into IMC. IMC operates under the brand name IN CableNet.

Intel Capital‘s ultimate total investment could be increased up to 20 percent in IMC. The investment is subject to Indian regulatory clearances.

"This investment reflects Intel‘s ongoing commitments to enable rapid deployment of high-speed Broadband internet access on a world wide basis", said Claude Leglise, Intel‘s Vice President and General Manager, Intel Home Products Group. "We have decided to participate in IN CableNet, India‘s largest Multi-Systems Operator (MSO), based on IN CableNet‘s unique market positioning, the company‘s vision, capabilities and our common objectives for the Indian broadband market segment".

IN CableNet is the only corporate effort in India, to build the information super highway, with the first 550 MHz cable system, being up-graded to Broadband network with fiber optic trunks. It offers high quality multi-channel transmission to more than four million Indian homes. It is classified amongst the 10 largest Cable TV Operators in the world in terms of subscribers. The network operates in nine cities with market leadership. In Mumbai, it claims to serve over 80 percent of the cable market and in the principal cities of Delhi, Bangalore, Hyderabad and Ahmedabad, it has a claimed over 60 percent of the Cable & Satellite market segments.

Ashok P. Hinduja, Chairman, Hinduja Finance, recently announced the Group‘s "TMT" strategy continuing to create value through the convergence of Technology, Media and Telecommunications. "We believe this relationship with Intel will add significant momentum to IN CableNet ‘s deployment plans of Broadband to strengthen the Group‘s leadership position in the convergence space."

"This investment is strategically important to Intel South Asia, it reflects the importance we place on developing Broadband infrastructure to address the growing demand for internet access in the Indian market," said Avtar Saini, Director of Intel South. "Over the past 15 months, we have invested in 15 companies in India. Today‘s announcement is the largest Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in Indian Broadband infrastructure and reflects our commitment to invest in India‘s growing technology sector".

The IN CableNet success story has taken five years, said A. K. Das, Chairman, IndusInd Media & Communications. "With its market segment leadership position and its dynamic management, the company will now exponentially grow to expand operations on a nationwide basis," he said. "The IN CableNet infrastructure will be enhanced with state-of-the-art technology to make convergence a household reality. We are excited about this new association with Intel Capital, which will enable IN CableNet to continue to maintain the technological edge."

The results of the MTV and Indiatimes.com co-sponsored event, Youth Marketing Awards were announced yesterday. The criterion for the awards, which are divided into two sections: marketing and advertising, is that the campaign should be "out of the box". It shouldn‘t be something which you have seen before and it need not be popular.
The awards which were instituted by MTV, which calls itself the 360 degrees brand, three years ago have come a long way since then. They had some 50 entries last year and the entries have risen to almost 450 this year.

Shumit Roy, head of the Mumbai Ad Club Mumbai, is the convenor for these awards. According to him, "When I say out of the box I don‘t mean popular. I mean something which has never been done before. But it need not just be creative work. It should be appealing and groundbreaking both."

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