On Friday, 9 February, the Economic Times featured a report saying that the government may finally come around on the vexed issue of 20 per cent sectoral and foreign equity cap on broadcasters for direct-to-home broadcasting.

It is something the broadcasting sector has been lobbying for ever since the government finally gave clearance for DTH in November 2000. The report quoted officials in the information and broadcasting ministry.

There was a rider however. The government was not going back on the issue of revenue sharing with DTH service providers, it was reported.

The guidelines issued by the government stipulated a revenue sharing arrangement of 10 per cent as annual fee for the licence period of ten years. Broadcasters have been asking for a five-year moratorium on revenue-sharing.

It may be noted that just a few days earlier it had been reported that while the government was ready for a rethink on the revenue sharing arrangement it was firm that the 20 per cent cap sectoral and foreign equity cap would stay.

A day after the Holi festivities on Sunday, 11 February, after everyone got back to ground reality so to speak I&B minister Sushma Swaraj is toting the old government line: no chance of any change in DTH guidelines. And she‘s promised yet again that the DTH guidelines will be out next week.

Don‘t be too sure though. It was on 16 February that Swaraj had last promised that the guidelines would be out in a week.

"Aamir (Aamir Khan), my son, normally does not accept awards. I am in a dilemma. I don‘t know what to do. But because I believe it is a genuine award, I will accept it on his behalf."

With that statement, Aamir Khan‘s father and film maker put the stamp of approval and paid respect to the Zee Network organised Lux Zee Cine Popular Awards. The Junior Khan got the award for Best Actor, through a poll process that directly involved viewers of Zee TV, for his role in Sarfarosh.

The best actress award went to Aishwarya Raid for her able essaying of the role of a young girl forced into marriage by a doting father, her rebellion, and her final reconciliation to the fact that her husband is a much better choice for her than her lover (played by Salman Khan), in the box office success Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam.

The best director award and best film award went to film maker Sanjay Leela Bhansali for Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam. Veteran actor Pran was given a lifetime achievement award. Ditto with film maker Nasir Hussain. Both have been associated with roles and films which have become bellwethers for the industry.

The awards function was held at a sports stadium, the Andheri Sports Complex, in northern Mumbai. A packed house - a crowd of at least 10,000-15,000 - which included the film trade, advertisers, the corporate world, media and the general public went agog with excitement every time a star got on stage to perform.

And there were perfomances aplenty by matinee stars Govinda, Anil Kapoor, Shilpa Shetty, Salman Khan, Juhi Chawla, Lucky Ali and the hearthrob of the nation, Hrithik Roshan. Anil Kapoor, Govinda, and Salman Khan stole people‘s hearts. As did Hrithik Roshan but one expected a lot more display of his dance talent when he performed on stage along with singer Lucky Ali.

Among those who presented the awards included: the breathtaking Rekha, Sushmita Sen, Akshay Khanna, Namrata Shirodkar, Shammi Kapoor, Alka Yagnik, Renuka Sahane, Sultan Ahmed, Baba Sehgal.

Among the other winners of the Lux Zee Cine Popular Awards figure:

Keep logging for further developments relating to Mr Murdoch.

Like they did it with the channel they are at it again. And this time around it‘s the net venture. Sony Entertainment Television is looking out to join hands with several portals and Net companies to make a foray into the net business. And even this time it‘s a rather quite and hush hush affair unlike their competitors Star & Zee. Zee is already way ahead of the pack but then Sony, which made a late entry into the television business, might give a tough time to the rest of these entertainment channels which are venturing into the net business. This is because Sony is in talks with 15-20 Internet companies and is also looking for alliances with ISPs like Pacific Internet, Bharti-BT and Mantra Online. To discuss their net ventures Sony held a high level conference which was held in Japan.

The Seven of the top 10 programmes among the music based channels are blaring from the stables of etc, a company press release said on Thursday. According to INTAM reports for the period 19 February to 25 February in all India 4+ Cable & Satellite (C&S) homes, the shows of etc have superior channel share compared to other music based channels. Bhakti Sangeet - a compilation of religious songs - on etc tops the table with a channel share of 1.45. Bhakti Sangeet is telecast every day at 7.30 am.

Rounding up the top 5 are another four etc programs - Mix Masala, Bhakti Sudha, Bollywood Bazaar and Pop Unlimited, the release says. MTV‘s Cinemascope comes at No. 6. This is followed by Once More (etc), Geet Gata Chal (etc), Just request (B4U) and Baar Baar Dekho (MTV), it further adds.

In 15-minute day-part reach category etc‘s reach is 5.62, followed by MTV (4.7), B4U (3.21), Channel [V] (2.88) and ZEE Music (2.7), the release goes on to say.

Talking about etc‘s lead, Pradeep Dixit, CEO etc says: "The recent figures of INTAM prove the fact that whether it is film music, pop numbers or religious songs, it‘s pure unadulterated music that has more takers than mindless shows with VeeJays babbling about everything but the music. Bhakti Sudha and Mix Masala - the top grossers are music compilation of sensible and good music."