ANIMAL PLANET LAUNCHES ON DD

With the National Geographic Channel making its debut in India last fortnight with a penetration of 5.5 million Indian homes, can Animal Planet be far behind? The BBC-Discovery promoted channel is expected to be launched in the Indian sub-continent early next year as a digital service. But in order to give Indian viewers a taste of what is to come, a one-hour weekly programming block started airing from 3 October on state-owned broadcaster Doordarshan's Metro channel, DD II. Two half-hour series, Amazing Animals and Zoo Life, will be telecast every Saturday at 4:30 pm.