Sushma Swaraj promises to guard against monopolies
Information and Broadcasting Minister Sushma Swaraj said that steps had been taken to guard against creation of monopolies by providing for restrictions on foreign investment and cross-media restrictions in the emerging convergence scenario.

Addressing the Consultative Committee of Members of Parliament attached to her ministry, she agreed that there was need for effective implementation of the amended provisions of the Cable Television Networks (Regulation) Act to ensure people receive Doordarshan channels.

She said the selection committee headed by Vice President Krishan Kant had been requested to expedite the selection of the Chairman and part-time members of the Prasar Bharati Board.

Informing members about the conditional access system being mooted by cable operators, she said this would remove malpractices including under-reporting of number of customers, unwanted telecasts, self-censoring, parental locking and payment of subscription for selected channels. It would also help in ensuring that the state got the right amount of entertainment tax. Members generally welcomed the introduction of the system.

Swaraj also apprised members with other steps that been taken recently by her ministry, particularly for the entertainment industry. Members who attended the meeting were Hannan Mollah, E.M. Sudarsana Nnatchiappan, N.K.P. Salve, Balkavi Bairagi, Pritish Nandy, Kartar Singh Duggal and Dr. C. Narayana Reddy.
UNI

Indonesia’s first 24-hour TV channel launched
Indonesia’s first 24 hour news channel flickered to life on Jakarta television sets last week, beaming the country’s first ever Chinese language broadcasts into homes.

Trilingual Metro TV, brainchild of newspaper publisher Suryo Paloh, will broadcast one-hour Mandarin and English news programmes sandwitched between Indonesian-language bulletins and talk shows. "Later we may add broadcasts in Japanese, Hindi and Arabic," News Director Andy Noya said. The station will not just be aimed at Jakarta. “We’re assuming that our transmission will be picked up in Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, India," he said.

Equally ambitious is Metro TV’s planned content, with a satellite link-up between separatist leaders and generals in the Republic’s rebellious peripheries of Aceh and Irian Jaya and top government figures in Jakarta planned for the opening night. Another independence leader will also be beamed in East Timor’s president-in-waiting Xanana Gusmao. Yet to be finalised is his video conference with East Timorese anti-independence militia leader Eurico Guterres, now in a Jakarta prison. "We’ve already tested live from jail, the satellite link went fine, and all the authorities have okayed it except the Attorney General’s office," Noya said.

SABe TV ties up with contest2win.com
SABe TV has entered into an agreement with a leading contests site, contests2win.com which will enable aspirants to make tickets to play SABe TV’s game show Jab Khelo Sab Khelo. Says Markand Adhikari of SABe TV "this (making tickets online) will make participation in our game show simpler. Now tickets can be made and printed by logging on to contest2wincom. and Sabetv.com".

The online service which is concerned since November 20, 2000 has received tremendous response and more than 15000 tickets were made in one day, informed Adhikari. Jab Khelo Sab Khelo is a one hour game show hosted by Shekhar Suman and telecast at 9.30 p.m. in the afternoon on weekdays. During the press conference in New Delhi (SABe TV also presented a cheque of Rs. 1 lakh to a resident of Delhi who was the 500,000th caller at Jab Khelo Sab Khelo), Markand Adhikari also talked about five new shows on his channel. This include Supriya, Dil Chhahta Hai, Sambandh, a daily soap Aflatoon and a mythological Brahma Vishnu Mahesh.
Amitabh P