After Sony now it is the turn of Zee Television to announce new programming initiatives. In the press conference in Mumbai, Zee elaborated on its programming run up for the coming months. Well actually three new serials, a series on theatre once in a month and the old blockbuster Antakshri will be in a new format.

Another new prime time serial is ?Ittefaq? launches erstwhile superstar Rajesh Khanna on the small screen. It is a story of people who are strong-willed but at the same time vulnerable and emotional. The serial is produced by Pawan Kumar and Sanjiv Narang and directed by Indrajit.

Considerable attention has been provided towards special effects, which is the heart of any fantasy serial. Even though the name of the serial seems to be suggestive of a children?s serial it is meant for all age groups.

"From two year olds to 80 year olds are our target viewers," replied Reena Wadhwa when asked.

The real innovative programme is ?Rangshala?, which covers theatre activities. On the last Saturday of every month it will show a drama on the small screen. The dramas will be selected from theatre groups all over India.

The shooting will be done on stage only, but will not be continuous. Veteran theatre and film artist A.K.Hangal said that the new initiative will definitely help theatre rather than hampering it, it will be interesting to see how theatre people adapt to television.

Answering on the expected TRPs and Advertising revenue on ?Rangshala?, R.K.Singh, CEO Zee TV said that not all programming is done taking into account revenue generation. "It is our endeavour to give something unique and creative. "

Talking on the overall programming strategy he said it is our continuous efforts to give new and innovative things to viewers. In eight years of programming on Zee, utmost care has always been taken to give entertainment and information of all kind and colour to society in the most holistic and composite way. As far as the cost of programming and the expected revenue is concerned Singh replied that cost forms percentage of revenue. Initially the cost will be high but revenues will follow later.

The Good old Antakshari will be in a new format with the slogan "Come, Play and Win the big money of Rs 1,28,00,000." The aim of the new improved programme is to appeal to all segments of society, with higher amount of prizes. Anu Kapoor and Rajeshwari Sachdev will now anchor the show.

The star has fallen from the heavens. From Rs 1,600 plus to Rs 290-odd is a great fall over eight months, but that‘s the drop that Zee Telefilms has had. It has gone into a tail spin which it is finding hard to control.

Today, it touched a 52 week low when it traded at around Rs 290, only to close at Rs 303 odd. Investors and speculators appear not to be not buying its convergence story. Yes, the entire bourse is caught up in a bearish sentiment, and Zee along with a few other stocks have been caught up in that vortex. What makes Zee‘s performance alarming is the amazing amount of trades that take place in its scrip daily. Yesterday, 12 million shares changed hands on the Bombay stock exchange. Other media stocks come nowhere close to this.

The fall has come at a time when Zee TV is just about taking new initiatives on the programming front, in order to combat the rapid strides that Sony and Star TV have made with Indian viewers.

Will it recover? Many employees and shareholders who have bought into the company at astronomical levels are crossing their fingers and hoping it will.

Star TV made a lot of hulabaloo about how the network would crack down on any one trying to corner the limelight by riding on the shirt tails of the successful Kaun Banega Crorepati. Well, it seems to be doing little. Several companies are ripping off on the concept of crorepati - so much so that it has become part of the Indian lingo.

But worse is the fact that Star has done nothing about Internet sites which have cropped up. Two have been sending mails to VSNL subscribers asking them to win crores. These are http://www.crorepatibaniye.com, and http://www.croreMaster.com, a site which had come up about a fortnight ago but shut down soon thereafter when it could not cope with the web traffic.

http://www.croremaster.com was uncannily tuned into the show in its run in its look and feel. One has not been able to log into see it in its second run.

Wonder whether the folks at Star will put their money where their mouth is and crack down on these renegade sites. Or will they follow the dictum: it‘s a free world after all, let everyone have his piece of the crorepati action. .

BBC Worldwide is driving hard into the Indian market. It started outwith coverage of local events and followed it with the creation of a local programming block on its India service.
It has since been trying to hawk its programming library to Indian programmers and has struck deals with Tara, DD, among other broadcasters. Driving the programme syndication, licensing and sales initiative has been senior executive Monisha Shah, who once worked with production house Plus Channel in India.

The latest arrangement the Beeb it has got into is with the Prannoy Roy-owned New Delhi Television (NDTV) to produce 38 episodes of the Indian version of the famous Yes Minister and Yes Prime Minister. Called Ji Mantriji and Ji Pradhan Mantriji the shows will air on Star Plus in Hindi. The stars of the show stars Farooq Sheikh ( Suryaprakash Singh) as Jim Hacker Jayant Kriplani (Rajnath Mathur) as Sir Humphrey with the scripts being adapted to Hindi by Alok Tomar (Ji Mantraji) and Purshottam Agarwal (Ji Pradhan Mantriji). The adaptation has resulted in references to football becoming cricket and the European Community becoming the Commonwealth. Eminent Indian cartoonist RK Laxman has penned the caricatures for the show. "The program has the same story line and characters, with a different structure," says BBC Worldwide‘s MD, Mark Young. The Beeb selected NDTV based on its long association with the content provider, and its "superior production quality" for the series Question Time India. BBC Worldwide refused to put a finger on the budget for the show, though it is reported to be in the region of $ 1 million. The pilot has been tested in different parts of the country, and has received a positive response, say BBC sources. The half hour series is expected to air at 8 pm Thursdays from early next year. BBC Worldwide, which expects to generate revenues of US$15 million from India in the current year, hopes to double them in the next three to four years. So expect many more such initiatives

Turner Broadcasting has split up its ad sales functions in to two - one looking after news, and the other after entertainment ad sales. The entertainment unit‘s ad sales are to be headed by senior vice-president David Dickman, who has been redesignated as Turner International Advertising Sales executive vice-president looking after Europe, west Asia, Africa, Latin America and the Asia Pacific. Responsibility for news ad sales falls on Kevin Razvi, who has been promoted as executive vice president of TBS International‘s Advertising Sales for the same regions.
Both executives will be based at TBS‘s European headquarters in London and will report to Andy Bird and David Levy, co-presidents of Turner Broadcasting International. Together they will oversee 10 CNN branded television networks, 33 TBS entertainment networks and 35 CNN and entertainment Web sites.

In addition to the promotion of Dickman and Razvi, Richard Chamberlain and Teri Carcano have each been promoted to senior vice president of Turner International Advertising Sales. Chamberlain is based in New York and is responsible for international advertising efforts across the East Coast. Carcano is based in Los Angeles and is responsible for international advertising efforts across the Midwest and Western regions.

They report to Dickman and Razvi. Dickman and Razvi who assume the responsibilities previously held by Levy, who was president of Turner International Advertising Sales, before assuming his current position.

"Turner Broadcasting‘s international businesses are some of the fastest growing areas for the company," says Levy. "This new structure will help us focus equally on our entertainment properties and news services, positioning the company for continued growth and success in the global marketplace and further expansion in the digital arena."

"As clients become more focused on worldwide strategies, this new structure will help us provide smarter, global cross-platform media packages," said Bird. "The speed at which we are developing our branded product and our new distribution channels gives us a real head start."

HFCL-Nine Broadcasting India Ltd is to complete the 7 pm to 10 pm programming block it had bid Rs 1,210 million for by starting to air a clutch of series and soaps between 9 pm and 10 pm cum 16 October on DD Metro, the government owned channel. The branded block called Nine Gold will additonally air sitcoms, dramas and two-hour movies by leading directors.

Amongst the new shows to be launched figure: Smriti, Patang, Mooch Nahin To Kuch Nahin, Chonch Ladi Re Chonch, Agar Tum Na Hoten, Hum bhit to Hain Tumarhe, Tedhe Medhe Sapney and Khaki.

The shows feature popular stars like Tom Alter, Salil Ankola, Bhagyashree, Rajesh Khera, Anju Mahendroo, Raghuveer Yadav, Benjamin Gilani and many more.

Nine Gold will additionally introduce ‘Directors Cut‘, a series of two-hour movies featuring a variety of storylines, brought to the small screen by leading directors and scriptwriters like Saeed Mirza, Praveen Nischol, Tanuja Chandra, Pankaj Parasher and Aruna Raje.

Shah points out that DD is making a serious effort at ensuring better transmission of DD‘s signal in Indian TV homes. The state-owned network is installing an additional 110 transmitters by next year to ensure that viewers in even the smallest towns can tune into the channel.