Doordarshan World package for NRIs
Doordarshan World is now planning to bring out a new programme to attract Indians staying overseas by focusing on real India in the package. According to a senior DD official, a new channel called Hitherto would transmit a programme focussed on real India to be beamed through a new distribution cable network covering 79 countries.

Hitherto is neither a cable channel nor a DTH. Fourteen leading international distributors have already responded to the global bidding floated by DD World recently to transmit the programme of the Hitherto channel.

Three will be chosen to cover the US and Canada, UK and Australia and New Zealand respectively soon for which negotiations are under way, a DD official said. The DD official also said that a similar exercise has already been finalised in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), where the government controlled e-Vision started distributing signals recently. "The initiative is the part of an experiment to revamp 24-hour DD National (formerly DD India)," the official added.
Chandan Banerjee>>>

Britain’s Channel Four to broadcast Kumbh Mela live
The largest gathering of human beings ever at Allahabad’s Maha Kumbh Mela festival is to be broadcast "live" by the religious affairs department of Britain’s Channel Four television network from January 6.

The festival is celebrated every 12 years at the confluence of the Ganges, Yamuna and the mythical Saraswati rivers. This year, because of a once-in-144 years alignment of planets, a staggering 14 million Hindu pilgrims are expected to congregate on any one day for ceremonies of ritual purification and spiritual renewal. A Channel Four spokesman confirmed that the network would start by broadcasting a one-hour documentary starting at 7 pm. Daily updates of eight minutes each would be broadcast on weekdays until the mela (fair) ends at the end of January.

"This is a very auspicious time, that’s why we are expecting such large crowds. This Maha Kumbh Mela coincides with certain cosmic movements. Every 12 years all the planets are in one position and this has special significance for tides and earth movements, as well as geographical, geological and religious significance," Hasmukh Shah, a senior Vishwa Hindu Parishad leader in Britain, told India Abroad News Service.

The Channel Four spokesman said the series, entitled The Greatest Show on Earth, would show more than just footage of pilgrims bathing in the Ganges and would follow specific individuals, such as the chief of police and a 92-year-old holy man.

Commissioning editor Elizabeth Clough, who described the series as "fantastically ambitious", told the British media, "We want it to be more like a Radio 1 roadshow than a sombre religious documentary. We are treating it as an accessible event, like us going to Glastonbury (a Christian celebration)."
Shyam Bhatia>>>

B4U introduces four new serials in January
B4U entertainment channel greets the new year with four new serials, one of which will be Anupamaa, a weekly soap that marks the television debut of Shabana Azmi. It is slated for telecast on January 19, 2001.

Rishta Kachche Dhaagon Kaa, a mega soap starring Kumar Gaurav and Sudesh Berry is a story of two friends who are torn apart due to various circumstances. Then there’s Karz Pichchle Janam Ka, a story of reincarnation and revenge. This mysterious tale of revenge revolves around a kid who is reborn in the very family that murdered him. The boy also has supernatural powers, which he uses to take revenge. It starts telecast on January 4, 2001.

The fourth serial in the line-up is Thoda Sa Gum Thodi Khushi, a story of a small town middle-class boy (enacted by Sumeet Saigal), and how his overriding ambition, leads him to ride roughshod over people and their emotions, to achieve his ends. Directed by Ravi Rai, this weekly serial also sees the television debut of Mayuri Kango.