It‘s May and as reported earlier in Indiantelevision.com‘s special report the Tara Marathi channel has gone on air. This means that there is one more major player in the Marathi regional channel arena other than Zee‘s Alpha Marathi, Prabhat and DD‘s Shayadri.
The Tara (Television Aimed at Regional Audience) group of regional channels is owned by Rathikant Basu promoted Broadcast Worldwide. The channel was officially launched yesterday - 19 May 2000.

The channel boasts of an interesting lineup of programming which will be as diverse as general entertainment, news and current affairs and educational programmes. It has tied up with BBC for educational programming software. The channel claims that it will have a balanced mix of movies and Marathi plays. It has also roped in celebrities like Sachin, Laxmikant Berde, Ashok Saraf and the likes to appear in various programmes on their channel.

Broadcast Worldwide has also initiated a a wide based research programmes for its channels (Read: Broadcast Worldwide initiates broad based research programme). The research which will be done with the help of IMRB is supposed to be first of the kind to be carried out by any channel in India. The main purpose of the research is to understand the viewers aspirations and demands.

Alarmed by the growing reach of private satellite channels, Doordarshan is finally getting its act together and is looking to increase the penetration of DD-2, or DD Metro as it is known, to almost 40% of national network.
For this purpose it has commissioned a total of 30 new terrestrial transmitters over a period of next three months. According to Prasar Bharati, the high power transmitters will increase its penetration by over 130 million viewers. It has also commissioned new low power transmitters which will increase its penetration by another 2 million.

Besides this Prasar Bharati has also issued notices in newspapers inviting tenders for the hauling down of its existing VHF Band III Ant. System and hauling up of new VHF Band III antenna system for DD-2 Transmitters at Raipur, Nagpur, Indore and Bhopal.

All you "Friends" lovers here‘s an interesting fact which will tell you that it ‘really pays‘ to be good friends - pun intended.

The cast of Friends, which will enter into its sixth season, have negotiated a deal with NBC which could well be one of the highest paying deals per episode.

According to the new two-year contract, the cast of Friends, which includes David Schwimmer, Lisa Kudrow, Matthew Perry, Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox Arquette and Matt LeBlanc, will be getting a package of $750,000 per episode. This is a raise from their $125,000 five-year deal which they signed in 1996. The actors were negotiating as a group for a package of $1 million per new episode.

In addition to the flat rate, the stars of the series will see their share of lucrative syndication rights double from a half point to a full point, according to industry sources. The deal assures NBC of an anchor for its Thursday night showcase through the 2002 television season.

As part of its integrated marketing initiative, Cartoon Network will be premiering its on-ground promotional event for the Asia Pacific region, Cartoon Network Super-Size Cinema, in Mumbai on 20 May, 2000.
The event will be divided into two sections: first will be the screening of Cartoon Network originals, Cartoon Cartoons, on a giant 35-foot screen. The second will be an interactive session which will include fun & games and contests.

The event will cover other two metros namely Delhi and Chennai at a later date.

According to Christine Fellows, VP, Cartoon Network Asia Pacific, "This is the first time Cartoon Network Super Size Cinema has ever been launched in any country outside the US. The X-Treem Toon Challenge is an innovation that has been specially designed for India and this is its world premier."

An extraordinary general meeting of shareholders gave Zee Telefilms chairman Subhash Chandra and the company the go-ahead to acquire 61 per cent equity of Asianet Communications, which runs the Malayalam channel of the same name.
The cost: Rs 2,550 million plus a Rs 1,000 million as a non-compete cash consideration. Zee Telefilms will issue 2.7 million shares to Asianet promoter Dr Raji Menon (amounting to 0.66 per cent of Zee Telefilms‘ capital). The non-compete clause forbids Asianet from launching any regional language channels over the next five years.

Zee Telefilms additionally has the option to buy another 12 per cent of Asianet‘s equity within the next three years if needed. Asianet notched up revenues of Rs 186 million (financial year: 1998), Rs 254 million (1999) and (Rs 355 million: expected for 2000). Its corresponding profit after tax is: Rs 23 million, 30 million, and Rs 69 million respectively.

"Asianet has a good 75 per cent of the Malayalam market," said Chandra. "Additionally, it will launch Kannada, Tamil, and Telugu channels. The Kannada channel should launch by 21 May. We are buying into the whole story and not just Asianet Malayalam."

Zee Telefilms is reconsidering its ADR issue. Chairman Subhash Chandra told investment analysts (at a meet organised by Zee and attended by 200 of them on 11 May in Mumbai) that the company‘s management was relooking whether its idea to go for an ADR issue was the best option available.
"We are relooking the issue," he said. "Could debt be a better option? Or may be divesting Siticable equity? Or E-connect equity? We need about Rs 22,000 million for all our plans of convergence, may be we could raise it differently! In the current run of things with shares sinking to their depths, things do not look so bright for an ADR."

The ADR issue was billed as the biggest from India with a target of raising $1.5 billion. It was later pruned to $200 million and going by current statements, it‘s possible it may be called off totally.

The reason: the Zee stock has been stuck at between Rs 600-800 for the last few weeks. At Rs 1,500 plus last month, it seemed well on its way to cross Rs 2,500-3,000. Around that time it was hit by the meltdown in Internet and media stocks which was worsened when certain operators worked to a plan to pull the stock down from Rs 1,500 plus to less than Rs 600.

"We have committed to not divest more than 10 per cent of Zee‘s equity," said Chandra. "If we have to raise ADR funds at a price of Rs 600, then we will have to divest more than the figure we have committed."