If sources in the industry are to be believed, Zee News has secured exclusive rights to the full transcript of the explosive "Tehelka tapes" which has shaken the government of prime minister Atal Behari Vajpayee.

The media has been abuzz with reports that rival channels Star News and Aaj Tak from the India Today group were also in the bidding race but the rights were firmly with Zee, the sources confirmed.

Zee group corporate communication head Sainath Aiyar, however, refused to either deny or confirm whether Zee had the rights or not.

Aiyar was equally cagey about reports that the Zee Network had entered into a strategic equity relationship with Buffalo Networks wherein it was taking a 26 per cent equity stake in the independent media organisation. Tehelka is a division of Buffalo Networks.

Aiyar did admit that the due diligence process was currently on but said a final decision in this regard was still to be taken. He was unable to provide a time frame within which a deal might be reached.

CNBC India on Thursday announced the launch of ‘The Maverick‘ series - another addition to its portfolio of on-ground properties. The inaugural event will feature Jeff Taylor, founder CEO, TMP Worldwide and Monster.com. The Maverick has been conceptualised to celebrate the spirit of entrepreneurship. The Maverick will kick off in Bangalore on the 22 March where corporate bigwigs will meet and interact with Taylor.

‘The Maverick‘ series targets the corporate sector and will be held five times a year where the focus is to highlight the achievements of unconventional business success. The emphasis being on innovation, and features personalities who broke away from traditional methods of conducting business and put their individual stamp on the ventures they were involved with.

"We at CNBC India are extremely excited about The Maverick - as part of our increasing focus towards making our CNBC India programmes relevant for its viewers, we are confident that this property which is all about recognising ground breaking business propositions and success stories through unconventional business methods and in short, mavericks of the corporate world will definitely catch the imagination of people across our viewer segment. While its elements are for the corporate profile, the theme will be radical, unconventional and will take the offbeat road," commented Haresh Chawla, CEO, CNBC India.

Explaining the choice of Taylor, Chawla says: "Jeff Taylor redefined the way one conducts business on the Internet when he named his online listings business in 1994 as the ‘Monster board‘ on a whim. This was a self-fulfilling prophecy. Also, a rarity amongst dot.com‘s, Monster.com is profitable and has been so for 10 quarters."

The Maverick, which will be held 5 times a year, hopes to feature the people behind success stories, people who have created a groundbreaking proposition. These series like the Mutual Fund Awards established by CNBC India, the Enlightenment series would further strengthen the offerings the channel will bring to its viewers.

CNBC India is a joint venture between Television Eighteen India Limited (TV18) and CNBC Asia. Raghav Bahl is the promoter of TV18 and holds 49 per cent stake in CNBC India. CNBC Asia holds a majority 51 per cent stake.