When Kiran Karnik took the reins at Discovery India in mid-1995 his mission was to drive the channel‘s penetration into the unknown terrain that made up India‘s cable TV viewing population. Today, that has been achieved to a large extent and as he prepares to hand over charge sometime in May, the channel is attempting further forays with a line-up of new programmes.

It was to drive the point across to the advertising world that a meeting for the fraternity was called at a south Mumbai hotel on Friday. The channel made a presentation on the potential that is there for advertisers.

According to the figures dished out, Discovery has greatly widened its audience reach following its recent tie-up with national broadcaster Doordarshan. Discovery now has a penetration of 18 million cable homes while sister channel Animal Planet reaches 6.5 million homes across India.

"Discovery‘s tie-up with Doordarshan early this year bilingually in Hindi and English is a step toward reaching a wider audience," Ambika Shrivastava, vice-president, marketing and sales said. The recent earthquake that devastated Gujarat state has driven people‘s need to learn more about the phenomenon, Shrivastava said. "Curiosity, knowledge, and exploring the world around us is what people look forward to and that is what Discovery Channel and Animal Planet intend to give them," she said.

Discovery‘s special series on earthquakes telecast in the first week of February has received a good response, Shrivastava said, while announcing the forthcoming lineup of programmes. A lineup which includes "The Raging Planet" and "Ancient Earthquakes and Sunken Cities".

Shrivastava also pointed out that the channel was reaching out to schools with quiz based programmes. "Discovery channel annually hosts an all-India quiz where students from 18 cities all over the country participate, she said.

On the issue of who will take over from Karnik, however, there was no word. "Discovery is still looking for somebody to head the organisation. Mr Karnik is still on the board and will be guiding the channel till they find somebody," was all that the corporate communications team could say when the subject was broached.

Zee MGM is marking Valentine‘s week from 12 February to 18 February with a line-up of Hollywood‘s best that should appeal to movie buffs as well as the simply romantic.

On show will be greats like West Side Story, winner of 10 Academy Awards, and The French Lieutenant‘s Woman.

Kevin Kline and Meg Ryan in French Kiss, Zee MGM‘s Valentine‘s Day Special

Zee MGM will be showcasing a wide range of Valentine special movies right through the Valentine week. Movies like ‘French Kiss‘, Stanley & Iris‘, ‘When Harry Met Sally‘, ‘Last Tango in Paris‘ and the like will be screened during the 2100 hrs and 2300 hrs slot.

Bournvita Quiz Contest (BQC), the name the name that immediately comes to mind when we think of quizzing for school students, will air its 350th episode on Zee TV this Sunday, according to a press release.

BQC, which is already the longest running quiz show in the world, will mark yet another milestone with the telecast of its 350th episode on Zee TV on Sunday, 11 February.

It is worth noting that BQC took the "Asian Television Awards 2000" runners up prize for best game show at a glittering award ceremony held in Singapore in December 2000.

Since its inception on 5 June 1994, the quiz show has become a major television event spanning over 2,500 schools in 66 cities spread across the length and breadth of the country and six countries around the globe. BQC primarily aims not just to sharpen quizzing skills, but to offer a variety of information for the all-round development of students. Conceptually, BQC revolves around the reading habits of young students, which we still aim in today‘s E-commerce world.

The mastermind behind this quizzing concept is Derek O‘Brein "who almost single-handedly has made quizzing into the nation‘s third most popular and liked spectator event after one-day cricket."

The 350th episode will have Jamnabai School - Mumbai, Kerala Samajam School- Jamshedpur, Indian School Ghala - Muscat and finally, Bal Bhawan - Bhopal participating.

Sony Entertainment Television‘s CEO Kunal Dasgupta may have said that he didn‘t plan for his gameshow Jeeto Chappar Phaad Ke (JCPK) hosted by Bollywood laugh riot Govinda to have a head-to-head confrontation with Kaun Banega Crorepati (KBC) but Star will have none of it. It will be up to the viewers to decide this one. Will they plump for Bollywood‘s "Bade Miyaan" Amitabh Bachchan and his KBC or "Chhote Miyaan" Govinda and JCPK?

The answer will be out very soon. AB and Chi-Chi are facing off on Saturday 10 February at 8pm. Star Plus has planned a KBC Special at the same time slot that JCPK airs. The Star Earthquake Special has celebrity guests from the cinema and cricket worlds to give it added appeal. Bollywood star Madhuri Dixit and Indian cricket ace Sachin Tendulkar each won Rs5 million (now we have gender equality in winnings too) and have donated the amounts towards the Gujarat earthquake relief fund.

It is clearly a tough one for the guys at Sony. On the one hand they have the prospect of JCPK having to ward off the well entrenched KBC while the show is still in its infancy. On the other hand, the immediate appeal of a show which links to the tragedy in Gujarat, makes it doubly daunting.

And there‘s more likely to come. Reason: the way Star has positioned its KBC special episode clearly indicates that it is not going to let Sony walk away and capture the weekend.

It sure looks an unequal fight from here and it remains to be seen what kind of response Sony‘s head honchos come up with.