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Hinduja-promoted
INCablenet will not be moving the court against ESPN Star Sports
for getting back the service of the two sporting channels, which
was discontinued from January 5 over the dispute on the recent subscription
rate hike. “We are not moving court. Let them black us out.
They do not have Indian playing cricket for the next few months.
We will resist against the price hike,” said IndusInd Media
& Communications executive vice chairman Ram Hingorani.
The contract
for providing the service of ESPN and Star Sports expired on December
31. As INCablenet did not want to sign up for the revised rate of
Rs 24 a month per subscriber (up from Rs 16), ESPN Star Sports switched
off service. INCablenet claimed to have made an advance payment
of Rs 24 lakh for the month of January, 2002. But, “as there
is no contract between ESPN Software and INCablenet for the period
commencing January 1, 2002, the question of an advance payment as
falsely alleged by INCablenet does not and cannot arise,” said
Sricharan Iyengar, vice president, affiliate sales of ESPN Software.
With the Star
bouqet price hike and Zee Network combined with the Turner channels
planning one, the fight between the broadcasters and the multi system
operators may have just begun.
AIR’s
solution to FM users
Although Prasar
Bharati recently signed agreements with private FM radio players
for co-location of their transmitters on All India Radio towers
in all metros except Mumbai, now it has decided to offer a complete
solution package in Mumbai as well. Those with licences for Mumbai
are Entertainment Network, Radio Today, Millennium Mumbai, Music
Broadcast Pvt Ltd and Radio Mid-day West.
The AIR tower in Mumbai is too old, it is not in a position to co-locate
transmitters of private operators, it was officially announced.
However, Prasar Bharati has chalked out an alternative plan for
Mumbai FM licensees now, according to sources. Prasar Bharati officials
will meet private FM operators on January 9 to offer them a complete
solution package for Mumbai. The terms and conditions of the Mumbai
offer are expected to be decided on the day of the meeting itself.
The capital investment for the Mumbai solution package, which includes
building a new tower, is estimated at Rs 15 crore. Said an AIR official
that it was not known as to how much of that investment private
players were ready to share.
Making it a
fool-proof offer, Prasar Bharati has kept a second option ready,
in case the private licensees don’t accept the total solution
package. While the total solution would mean that the private players
get to co-locate their transmitters on a newly-made tower and use
the AIR land and building, the second option will entail only the
use of AIR land and building. The charges for these facilities will
have to be worked out. Even if private FM players agree to accept
the AIR total solution package for Mumbai, they will need to get
their interim operations ready within the next four months. For
the permanent tower, however, Mumbai FM licensees have time till
December 2003. Prasar Bharati is planning to offer the total solution
package for the permanent set up in Mumbai. Last week, the government
granted additional time to FM licensees in Mumbai, as the AIR tower
in the city was not in a position to take the extra load of FM transmitters
of private players.
It may be recalled
that the government had asked FM players to co-locate their transmitters
on a single tower in the metro cities because spectrum is a scarce
resource. Private FM players were given one year from the time of
allocation of frequency to set up their operations. However, because
some of the FM licensees went to court against the government over
terms and conditions of the licence, the remaining players could
not set up their operations in time due to the uncertainty over
co-location. Then, to facilitate the co-location proces, Prasar
Bharati stepped in with its offer to allow co-location on AIR towers
in metros.
Sadda
Top 10: An interactive SMS show
Sadda Top 10
is the viewer’s very own countdown show on ETC Channel Punjabi
where they only select the top ten songs. The show is a pure entertainer
without any Hera Pheri because in a very unique manner the popular
numbers are selected by the viewers only, not music critics and
analysts. In this innovative countdown show that is targeted specifically
towards the viewers of Punjab, a viewer just has to SMS his preference
to the channel. Naturally the song, which receives maximum SMS requests,
becomes the “Top Song of the Week” and the rest of the
countdown is done according to the SMS preference received for each
song. So each song that comes on ETC Channel Punjabi’s new
programme Sadda Top 10, is selected by the viewers only. Yeh aapki
apni pasand ka aur aapke apne liye aapka hi apna programme hai.
To send in
the entries in this inter-active show Sadda Top 10, viewers have
to use the SMS no. 303 of Punjab Spice. Telecast every Thursday
at 7.10 pm, this one hour programme is not only pronouncing the
winning songs but it also has prize galore for the viewers who are
participating in the song selection. Produced in association with
Positive Comsol Delhi, the winners are announced through their mobile
numbers.
Sabeer
Bhatia on Star Talks
Here is a man
who revolutionized the internet and made the hottest deal that cyber
world has ever witnessed, all by the time he was 29 years old. Sabeer
Bhatia spoke to Vir Sanghvi in Star Talk recently. Those who missed
the show, here’s an excerpt:
Childhood:
I wanted to become a general in the Army and used to ask my friends
to call me General Bhatia but this changed when a friend of mine
said he wanted to be an astronaut... I wanted to be a scientist
from then on. I loved mathematics and physics.
Entrepreneurial
Dreams:
There was this new college that opened up in my neighbourhood and
I said, “you know mom can I get a loan for 15 thousand rupees,
I want to start a sandwich shop. I think I can make a lot of money.”
I must have been 5 then. Mom asked me to stay back and take a computer
class.
Hotmail
Idea:
The company we were working at, instituted a firewall so we could
not access our personal e-mail accounts. That’s when it occurred
to us, what if you could access your e-mail from any computer in
the world?
Handicaps:
Jack and myself were only 27, did not have management experience...19
venture capitalists turned us down. But it was a question of conviction.
I believed so much in what I did... my attitude was, “hey if
you don’t put your money in this, you’ll be making the
biggest of your life.”
Microsoft
Deal:
The first offer on the table was 160 milion. I wanted to settle
for about 450 so I countered with about 750. They thought I was
out of my mind. We went back and forth and the final price was 400
million.
Coping with
success:
Initially it was a different high... you’ve suddenly become
wealthy when you come from an upper middle class family. This whole
new world was unreal but I think now I’ve got more used to
it. I’m taking care of all the personal dreams that I had...
I’ve also contributed to causes that are near and dear to me.
Marriage:
There is presssure to get married. When I meet the right person,
absolutely I’ll get married. Till then, I am looking for the
right one.
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