MUMBAI: CNN welcomes its first ever dedicated tennis program this week with the launch of ?Open Court?, a monthly magazine feature show taking viewers beyond the baseline in search of the most compelling personal stories in the sport.
The show goes behind-the-scenes with some of the biggest names in the global game, learning as much about life off the court as on it.

‘Open Court‘ aims to showcase the personalities that shape or have shaped, one of the world?s most universal sports?, says Mike McCarthy, vice president of coverage and feature programming. "This most accessible of sports is populated by some of the most intriguing individuals, all with hugely diverse personal stories behind their journey to fame and success on the court. It is these stories that we feel will take this show from being a regular sports show into something much richer.?

?Open Court? chronicles the players? journeys from childhood to their first steps into the world of tennis through to their dominance on the world circuit.
In the coming months, ?Open Court? will complement these highly personal interviews with on the ground guides to major tournaments, and a quirky look at the latest developments in tennis technique and gadgets.
The show is to be anchored by an internationally renowned tennis champion ? and one of the most colorful characters to have played the game. The anchor will be announced during the first program.

Airitmes: Indian Standard Time

Thursday 18th March 1800, 2300 hrs IST

Saturday 20th March 1300 hrs IST

Sunday 21st March 0830, 1300, 2030 hrs IST

MUMBAI: A touching tale of heartwarming relationships makes way to your homes this Sunday! Catch Amitabh Bachchan in a never seen before role as ?Auro?, a 12 year old boy with a rare genetic disease who is sure to steal your hearts. STAR Gold brings you the award winning performances of Big B and Vidya Balan in the Dhamaka premiere of ?Paa? on Sunday 21st March at 1 pm on STAR Gold!

Showcasing the highly acclaimed film ?Paa?, STAR Gold brings you an award winning offering that deals with the sensitivity of relationships of a young boy. Bringing the best of entertainment, the channel aims to make Sunday afternoons an engaging experience for the entire family with this blockbuster film that touches you with the beautiful treatment of intricate relationships.

Presenting the sensitive story of a young boy suffering from Progeria, a rare genetic disease, Paa is the journey of Auro portrayed by Amitabh Bachchan. Auro is a normal twelve year old boy but physically looks five times older. The story revolves around his amusing relationships with the people in his life, from a loving mother to a doting grandma whom he affectionately calls Bum to his young friends who share the intellect of adults and an estranged father, the reality of which is concealed from Auro. On learning the truth of his father, he tries to get his parents together, but Vidya resists. Soon his health begins to deteriorate. Will Auro be able to unite his maa and paa?

join Auro on an extraordinary journey that will make you laugh your heart out and bring tears to your eyes only with ?Paa?!

Watch the Dhamaka Premiere of ?Paa? on Sunday, 21st March at 1pm only on STAR Gold!

MUMBAI: Had enough of exams and the studies? Can?t wait to plan for your summer holidays? POGO has the perfect answer. Enter the fun, simple and exciting ?Dholakpur Entrance Test? by tuning into POGO and answer easy questions about your favourite Indian animation character ? Chhota Bheem daily and you could win a dream vacation to Kuala Lumpur and Jaipur!

Krishna Desai, Director, Programming, Turner International India Pvt. Ltd., said, ?March is exam time for kids. As kids? favoured destination, POGO offers them a breather in the form ?Dholakpur Entrance Test? - a simple and fun initiative that offers kids? an opportunity to plan for their summer vacation alongside exams!"

Kids aged between 4-14 yrs can appear for the ?Dholakpur Entrance Test?, running daily on POGO through March. Every day a question related to ?Chhota Bheem? will be asked on POGO and kids need to simply SMS their answers on 58558 or call on the 58888388 or log on to www.pogo.tv. If they clear the Dholakpur Entrance Test, they win the Dholakpur citizenship. The participant with the maximum correct responses stands to win a vacation to Kuala Lumpur. Second runner up wins a trip to Jaipur. Participants can also win consolation prizes like Skateboards, Remote Operated cars and Wristbands. The contest ends on 31 March, 2010.

Chhota Bheem is a huge hit, making POGO the No. 1 national channel during its airing**. Currently in its 4th season, Chhota Bheem has received ?The Best Animated TV Series (Released)? award at the ?Golden Cursor Awards 2009?. (**Source: TAM Media Research, CS 4-14 All India audiences, Period: Week 1- 10 of 2010)
 

MUMBAI: SND, the distribution company of major French television channel M6, recently chose GlobeCast?s Cinema Delivery solution for the digital delivery of Rob Marshall?s film ?Nine?, which premiered in France on Wednesday 3 March. The solution was used for several movie theaters of the CGR chain.

This solution, offered by GlobeCast, a subsidiary of France Telecom ? Orange, allows all audiovisual professionals . to securely transfer DCP files and other audiovisual content from GlobeCast?s management and storage platform located near Paris.

A quick and easy distribution process
A few days before the French premiere, the film laboratory Eclair sent a digital copy of the film via GlobeCast?s platform. Once available on the platform, the CGR movie theaters equipped with GlobeCast Cinema Delivery could download the digital copy within a few hours, thanks to broadband connections with an average bandwidth of 40 Mbps. On March 3rd, the original copy of ?Nine? was ready for its French debut.

GlobeCast Cinema Delivery: a simple solution for professionals
In addition to CGR, other cinema chains have expressed their interest in this digital content transfer solution. Recently, Eclair Group signed an agreement to create more digital content management solutions with GlobeCast.

The ease and reliability of this product helped it win over a major distribution company SND ? subsidiary of M6.

The deployment of GlobeCast Cinema Delivery, which was officially launched at the IDIFF trade show in January, has taken off thanks to the recent agreement with Eclair Group (?clair Laboratoires/Teletota). GlobeCast is currently engaged in talks with other film professionals; cinema chains and theater programmers, film and trailer distributors and other film laboratories.

MUMBAI: On Thursday 18 March 2010, the BBC?s international news services will broadcast SuperPower Nation, an experimental interactive event that will provide a six-hour snapshot of a global conversation as it unfolds ? on radio, TV and online.

The event will take place with a live audience at Shoreditch Town Hall, London from 13:00 to 19:00 GMT, and will invite people from around the globe to interact with one another and join in the global discussion, enabling people to communicate with one another, regardless of languages they speak.

The event will be filmed and recorded for the BBC?s international news services, and audiences across the world will be able to listen in, watch and read the discussion online, in real time. The live audience will also be actively blogging, tweeting and aggregating throughout the event.

A live message board will translate online comments into Arabic, Chinese, English, Indonesian, Persian, Portuguese and Spanish.

Audience members from across the world can join the conversation via bbc.com/superpower. People can also follow the conversation on Twitter (@BBC_SPnation), Facebook (BBCSuperpowerseason), the season blog (bbc.co.uk/blogs/superpower) and on Flickr (flickr.com/photos/47661717@N07)

The BBC?s international news services will be broadcasting live from SuperPower Nation:

BBC Arabic TV will broadcast 10-minute live reports, presented by Samir Farah and Liliane Daoud, at 45 minutes past every hour, from 14:45 to 18:45 GMT on Thursday 18 March. BBC Arabic radio will also broadcast from the event at 16:45 and 17:45 GMT.

BBC Persian TV will broadcast regular live reports from the event throughout the afternoon, and Pooneh Ghooddoosi will present a special hour-long programme live from SuperPower Nation at 15:35 GMT.

BBC World News will be reporting live from the event at 20 minutes past every hour from 17:50 to 22:50 IST on Thursday 18 March. Ros Atkins will also present a special half-hour live SuperPower Nation programme at 21:00 IST.

BBC World Service will broadcast its flagship global discussion programme, World Have Your Say, presented by Ros Atkins, live from Shoreditch Town Hall at 18:00 to 19:00 GMT*.

Other services taking part in the event include BBC Brasil (bbcbrasil.com), BBC Chinese (bbcchinese.com) and BBC Mundo (bbcmundo.com).

MUMBAI: The Quilas of Patiala are surrounded by shops selling phulkaari juttis and parandis. Anchor Amrita Gandhi travels through Patiala and finds a flame that has been burning since the days of the first founder of the kingdom - Baba Aala Singh. She then meets the modern day women of Patiala - Preneet Kaur and Rishma Kaur, mother in law and daughter in law who have made Patiala their own.

A fencing lesson at the National Institute of sports and then Amrita heads out to Kapurthala. Here a French style palace and a Marakesh inspired mosque await. These are the legacies of a well travelled King, a Francophile Maharajah Jagatjit Singh, whose grandson Brigadier Sukhjit Singh is the present day custodian of Kapurthala?s history.

Your Royal date this Wednesday, March 17, 2010 is in Punjab at 10.00 pm with a repeat telecast on the following Friday at 10.30 pm only on NDTV Good Times