The acting CEO of Prasar Bharti, RR Shah, has been shifted out of the information and broadcasting (I&B) ministry , the Economic Times reported on Tuesday. He held the rank of additional special secretary.

In a related move, Pawan Chopra, additional secretary in the Cabinet Secretariat, is to take over as secretary I&B in place of YN Chaturvedi, who retires on Wednesday, 31 January.

Shah?s shifting is bound to revive speculation as to whether his days at the helm of Prasar Bharti are numbered. Shah?s term came to an end on 31 December but he was granted a six-month extension pending a replacement being found.

Two names that have cropped up as possible successors are Kiran Karnik, MD Discovery India, and Deepak Shourie, formerly with Zee Telefilms.

The third quarter results of media baron Subhash Chandra?s Zee Network are out and they were quite clear on one front. That it was time for Zee to take stock and do a rethink on a number of ambitious projects Chandra had lined up for the group. It appears to be a policy of scaling down and consolidation at the moment.

As part of this exercise comes the report in the Times of India on Monday that the ambitious Agrani Satellite project has been scaled down by Rs 25.5 billion.

The reduction comes soon after his rejection of the Industrial Financial Corporation of India?s (IFCI) tough stand that he pledge his stake in Zee Telefilms and Essel Packaging for availing funds for the satellite project. In addition IFCI had also sought a personal guarantee from him.

The Agrani project as it stands now involves a proposed investment below RS 12 billion. This proposal has been submitted to the Industrial Development Bank (IDBI) for funding but it remains to be seen whether IDBI takes a softer stand on funding than IFCI.

In a related development, the Zee Network has also scaled down plans for its ambitious RS 37 billion broadband project by deciding to implement the project in three phases, the Financial Express reported. The company will now be investing only RS 3 billion in the first phase. The rest of the project will depend on Zee Network finding suitable strategic and financial partners.

Zee hopes to invest RS 23 billion in the second phase. Till such time as the company gets a financial partner in the project, the broadband rollout will be restricted to the laying of ducts in four cities within the financial resources available to Zee Telefilms? wholly-owned subsidiary, Siticable Network.
 

Alpha Marathi, the Marathi language channel of the Zee Network, announced on Monday that the second Alpha Gaurav Puraskar awards for theatre and cinema will be held on 3 February.

The awards, which cover the best of Marathi theatre and cinema across different categories, will be broadcast on Alpha Marathi at 8:00 pm on 10 February. Launched last year at the beginning of 2000, these awards are aimed at giving recognition to the Marathi theatre and cinema industry.

Introduced with the aim to encourage local language and culture, Alpha caters to the local flavours and traditions of Maharashtra and provides a forum for the artistic talents of Marathi film and theatre artists. There will be one male personality and one female personality to bag the Lifetime Achievement award in each category.

Curtain raisers for the show will be telecast on 3 February and 9 February.