Zee group to invest Rs 100 cr in UP
The Zee group of companies will invest Rs 100 crore for expansion of primary education programmes in Uttar Pradesh during the next two years, said its chairman Subhash Chandra.

The Zee company will telecast educational programmes for five hours everyday from 7 am through cable network in 3,000 villages of the state and undertake construction of multiplexes in Agra, Lucknow, Varanasi and Kanpur, the chairman told UP Chief Minister Ram Prakash Gupta during his recent visit to the metropolis, a Zee group release said.

Chandra said with this project, he wanted to create a new feeling of awakening among children towards education. He said cable TV telecast would be battery operated and added that construction of multiplexes will be undertaken as soon as the land is provided. Gupta said the state Government last month launched ‘school chalo campaign’ to encourage children to join schools.

The state Government was also encouraging construction of multiplexes, housing at least three cinema halls. “Facility of 100 per cent relaxation in entertainment tax during first year and 75 per cent each in second and third year would be provided to the multiplexes investing over Rs 1.5 crore,” Gupta said.

UP chief secretary Yogendra Narain said the Government was considering to set up a film city in the state and urged the Zee company to cooperate in this task, the release added

PTI

BBC World most viewed channel by Indian decision-makers
BBC World, the BBC’s 24-hour international news and information channel is the most viewed television channel by business decision-makers in India, according to new research by ORG-Marg. The Decision-makers Survey revealed that 73 per cent of respondents had watched BBC World during the previous week- more than any other channel.

By comparison, India’s leading general entertainment channels, Sony, Zee TV and Doordarshan all failed to attract viewership of more than 50 per cent of respondents. The survey was conducted by ORG-Marg amongst 1,030 people. Respondents comprised all senior executives designated as general managers and above across the top 500 private sector companies registered in India, the largest 100 public sector companies and the leading 100 companies in the financial sector. These included banks, merchant banks and foreign institutional investors.

DD II Telecasts from Jaipur and Jodhpur by this month
Rajiv Ratan Shah, Chief Executive Officer, Prasar Bharti, disclosed at a press-meet in Jaipur that DD II programmes will start telecasting from Jaipur and Jodhpur by High Power Transmission system. Also from September 11, new and better programmes will be telecast by DD II. From 7 to 9 p.m. Hindi programmes will be telecast. Metro programmes will be telecast through the Australian Channel-9 for better reception.

He disclosed that DD earned a profit of Rs. 610 crores during last financial year and there was 47% increase in its viewership.

Sony, NEC jointly develop semiconductors for digital TV
Japan’s Sony Corp. and NEC Corp. have joined hands to develop semi-conductors for digital televisions ahead of the December launch of digital broadcasting services in Tokyo, a spokesman said.

“We have been jointly developing chips used in digital televisions since a few months ago,” said a spokesman for computer company NEC, who declined to be named. Electronics and entertainment giant Sony has been providing expertise in digital television sets with NEC supplying key components, he said.

“Among various types of digital household equipment under development, digital television is one we hold great expectations for,” the spokesman said.
Digital televisions are set to hit shop shelves in Japan as early as November, before the country starts digital television services via satellite a month later and through terrestrial networks in 2003 in major urban areas.

High Power TV Tower Construction work in the doldrums
The construction work of HPT at Taragarh is going on for last 18 months and was to be completed by Oct. 1999 at the cost of Rs. 10 crores. As the entire work couldn’t be completed as per schedule, more time was allowed and date was extended to March, 2000. While work worth lakhs of rupees has been completed, but it means nothing now, as it may take 12 to 18 months to complete the entire work.

For the last few months, digging foundation for the TV tower remains suspended and there are no signs of work being resumed soon. The task of digging foundation for TV tower in hilly terrain is proving too costly for the contractor, who is unwilling to resume work unless terms of contract are suitably altered in his favour. If new tenders are invited, it may take an year or more to restart construction work at the site. If however, the Central Government agrees to alter terms and conditions in favour of the present contractor, construction work may be resumed by end of year 2000.
Meanwhile, costly TV Tower equipment worth lakhs of rupees, which arrived from Delhi to Ajmer two years ago, is rusting.