Leading Malayalam language channel Asianet is putting together plans to launch a news channel within the next three to four months, chief operating officer Mohan Nair said on Saturday.

"We have a full-fledged news dissemination structure already in place for our news programmes so to convert that into a dedicated channel should not be a problem," Nair said. "Towards this end we have just got VSNL (Videsh Sanchar Nigam Limited - in charge of international telecommunication services in India) clearance for a transponder," he added.

"The news bulletins on Asianet get the highest viewership after our hit serial ‘Sthree‘ so we are confident a 24-hour news channel will do well," Nair said.

On how his channel was doing vis-a-vis arch rival Surya of the Sun group, Nair said though they were facing stiff competition, they were still ahead in the channel wars.

Questioned on whether Asianet planned to join the gameshow bandwagon, Nair said Asianet would stick with what has worked for it till now, namely serials. Surya is launching a gameshow hosted by Malayalam film star Mukesh on the lines of the popular "Koteeswaran" on Sun, the leading Tamil language channel.

Nair admitted that an area of concern for the company was Asianet Kaveri, the Kannada language launched in June 2000, which was still to really take off. He ascribed it to the fallout from the kidnapping of popular Kannada film star Rajkumar who was released on 15 November after 108 days in captivity. During the kidnap period there was a virtual shutdown of the Kannada film industry, Nair explained. "This resulted in producers contracted to provide programming for Asianet being unable to do so causing a severe software shortage for the channel, forcing us to air re-runs. This really crippled us at a time when the channel was trying to establish itself and we haven‘t really managed to recover the lost ground," Nair said.

Twenty weeks since Kerry Packer‘s HFCL Nine Broadcasting launched their serial on Doordashan Metro, the INTAM Television Viewer Ratings (TVRs) reflect that many of Nine Gold‘s serials are increasingly making their presence felt in cable and satellite homes.

Hoping to build on its gains, Nine Broadcasting has pitched for a 10-year contract for DD Metro with Prasar Bharati, the Economic Times reported on Saturday. It remains to be seen how newly installed CEO Anil Baijal responds to the offer. Considering how the profile of DD Metro has improved in this period, it will be an offer he finds difficult to refuse.

The TVRs indicate that Channel 9‘s programmes are scoring over that of DD1 with nearly 26 of its serials among the top 50 in all television homes. Telecast for three hours every day on DD Metro‘s prime time segment between 7.00 PM to 10.00 PM, 14 programmes are among the top 20 with two of its serials - "Superstars" and "Kundali" - sharing the second position with DD1‘s "Jai Hanuman" at 9.4 per cent TVR. In all non C&S homes DD1‘s "Suraag" leads with 27 per cent TVR followed by "Kundali" at 23 per cent.

Nine Broadcasting‘s five soaps figure among the top 50 in Ahmedabad (all C&S homes), with "Chonch Ladi Re Chonch" aired on Sundays at 8.33 PM with 8.9 TVRs while Star Plus‘s family soap "Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi" tops the chart at 21 per cent (Wed 10.32 PM).

Nine Broadcasting has paid Rs 1.21 million for the three hours of air-time on DD Metro.

ETC Networks Limited has registered a profit after tax (PAT) of Rs 43 million on a turnover of Rs 326.6 million for the nine-month period ended December 31, 2000. PAT for the quarter ended December 31, 2000 is Rs 21.2 million, registering a growth of 159 per cent over the previous quarter ended September 30, 2000 at Rs 13.3 million.

In just its second year of operation, ETC has not only consistently retained the top position among music-based channels in viewership rating but also translated this popularity to very impressive revenue and profit figures, according to a company press release issued on Friday.

ETC Channel Punjabi, the regional channel under the umbrella of ETC Networks Ltd., which has just completed only its second quarter of operation, is also doing extremely well, having beaten all established Punjabi channels in the ratings war, as also attracting impressive revenue figures.

Etc hopes to consolidate its position with a whole slew of new programmes which are scheduled to come on air in the near future.

Come 5 February and a new corporate campaign is slated to break across Asia. That of rebranding Star TV as Star. The campaign covers a high-pitch run in newspapers and magazines and possibly the outdoors later.

	Star TV Asia chairman and CEO James Murdoch explains in a letter mailed to senior industry professionals has explained why TV is being dropped from the brand identity. He says that the past 10 years have seen a satellite TV broadcaster evolve into a company with strengths in:
The new Star logo

*Content (19,000 hours of programming; seven languages, 300 million viewers in 53 countries)

*Radio (for once it has admitted that it is involved in FM broadcasting though through its media partner Mittal who is launching six FM stations in 2001. "We believe the commercial FM market in India is one the most promising new media sectors in the region," says Murdoch in the note.

*Internet (owned properties such as channelv.com, vindia.com, espnstar.com, partnerships with others such as netease.com, indya.com)

Murdoch adds that "by leveraging our brands, content, technology, local expertise and extensive infrastructure; and by forging important partnerships in key markets, we are actively creating the next generation of media connectivity in Asia. As STAR evolves from a television brand to a multi-service, multi-platform brand, we are evolving our identity from the media (i.e. from STAR TV) to the core of our brand, i.e. STAR."