The southern Indian state of Andhra Pradesh yesterday witnessed the launch a new Telugu channel christened Manna TV on state-of-the art Ku band-based satellite communication network.

The state‘s chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu did the honours on the occasion of Ugadi, Telugu New Year, according to the Press Trust of India.

As part of pilot transmission, Manna TV will commence telecasting long distance education programmes of Dr BR Ambedkar Open University and the University Grants Commission (UGC) respectively. It will also provide information about various state government departments and help farmers with prompt and timely update on weather and seasonal conditions.

In his inauguration address, Naidu thanked the Indian Science Research Organisation (ISRO) for agreeing to his government‘s request for providing the Ku band linkage. He said apart from literary and informative programmes, the channel would also focus on beaming entertainment programmes. The Ku band connected channel - which now caters to the needs of students belonging to 46 junior colleges, 12 degree colleges, 56 high schools and 94 government departments - will be expanded to more university colleges and schools from the next academic year.

The countdown has begun for the launch of India‘s long delayed Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV) tomorrow from Sriharikota, India‘s spaceport 100 km north of Chennai in the southern state of Tamil Nadu.

National broadcaster Doordarshan will telecast the launch live. DD‘s national network will start the telecast of the launch at about 3.15 pm.

A curtain raiser programme on GSLV will also be telecast, a release from the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), said on Monday.

"We are now the number one news channel in India even if we don‘t factor in the viewership figures in offices, for which there is no proper tracking system in place," asserts Haresh Chawla, CNBC India CEO.

Reeling off AC Nielsen TAM data to back his contention, Chawla says the figures speak for themselves. For a four week period ending 10 March, data culled from nine major cities, category SEC A, age group 25+ shows Aaj Tak from the India Today stable coming a close second, Chawla points out. Zee News and Star News come third and fourth, he says. The figures quoted for channel share were: CNBC - 0.7, Aaj Tak - 0.6, Zee News - 0.5, Star News - 0.4, BBC - 0.1 and CNN and Jain TV as negligible.

TV Today Network executive director G Krishnan, however has his own tale to tell on the subject. "Within 60 days Aaj Tak has become the most watched news channel in India. Aaj Tak has managed to capture an audience share of 33 per cent among the news channels, which is equivalent to that of Zee News whereas Star News gets 15 per cent channel share. The channel has created a loyal audience base with Aaj Tak viewer spending 32 minutes on the channel as against 15 minutes on Star News and 23 minutes on Zee News." Interestingly, Krishnan also quotes AC Nielson‘s TAM data to support his argument. And CNBC figures nowhere in his calculations.

And for good measure, Krishnan also refers to INTAM data in buttressing his argument. "Aaj Tak has already captured 33 per cent share among the news channels which goes up to 37 per cent as against 26 per cent for Zee News and 17 per cent for Star News in Sec A, B/15+years target group. The latest INTAM report also confirms that Aaj Tak is the most watched news channel with a channel share of 31 per cent which is higher than that of Star News and Zee News," says Krishnan.

Chawla says CNBC is in the process of beefing up its five bureaus in Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkota, Madras and Bangalore, adding that it has recently expanded its anchor teams.

As for Hindi programmes, Chawla says there will be an increase of half an hour per day (from one-and-a-half hours to two-and-a-half-hours) over the next two quarters which would take Indian programming on the channel to 11 hours a day from the present 10.

Krishnan, meanwhile, scores his channel‘s performance as being linked to its easily comprehensible and in-depth news coverage coupled with state of the art technology and graphics. Advertisers have also been quick to realise the channel‘s worth with brands like Nestle, LG, Opel Corsa, Videocon, Berger, Oriental Insurance etc, advertising, Krishnan says.

The channel has recently introduced a stock ticker keeping in view of the audience with interest in business news. "Our viewership growth is a function of cutting edge technology & extensive coverage of everyday events & happenings," Krishnan asserts.

On plans for the near term, Krishnan says the company is exploring the possibility of launching news channels in regional languages as well as a 24-hour Hindi business channel in future, the plans for which would be firmed up by the end of this year.

Chawla, meanwhile, says the channel is setting up additional facilities in telecom and infrastructure in the coming quarter which will enable a direct uplink to Singapore. "We will invest $ 500,000 in telecom facilities in Delhi for uplinking to Singapore. A V-Sat link to VSNL‘s hub is being set up in Delhi for this purpose, he says, adding that a laser link was what CNBC was using earlier.