The battle between InCableNet and ESPN Software over increased subscription rates entered the courts today after the Hinduja Group MSO filed a contempt of court case against it and its managing director Manu Sawhney, and Sricharan Iyengar, V-P, distribution & affiliate sales.

The case - filed in the chambers of Justice Patil of the Bombay High Court - was on ESPN‘s request adjourned to Monday afternoon, an InCableNet release says.

"The contempt notice was a result of ESPN/Star Sports switching off their signals to InCableNet depriving viewers of feed with effect from the night of 5 January, 2002. The Hon‘ble Bombay High Court, had by an earlier order dated 12 June, 2001, directed switching on of the signals of ESPN/Star Sports on an additional payment of Rs 4 lakhs (400,000) per month, until further orders of the Court," the release says.

An ESPN spokesperson said: "It is InCableNet which has approached the Hon‘ble Bombay High Court alleging that ESPN Software has committed contempt of its order. The court has granted time to ESPN to clarify its position. We would not like to comment further as the matter is sub judice."

The standoff between the two sides (which shows no signs of letting up) arose after the MSO refused to sign on to the increased subscription package that went into effect from 1 January where the monthly tariff for the ESPN and Star Sports channels was pegged at RS 24 from the earlier RS 16.

Gameshow Kaun Banega Crorepati may be singing its swan song tonight but Star Plus has been making sure that the grass does not grow beneath its feet in the 9-10pm slot.

The channel claims that the debut of the new gameshow hosted by actress Neena Gupta Kamzor Kadii Kaun has beaten Sony‘s Kkusum and Kutumb hands down in the rating‘s sweepstakes.

On Christmas day at 9pm KKK drew TAM ratings of 6.3 across 9 cities. Also the shows share and TVR have meant that the previous six weeks average on Tuesday‘s has doubled. As far as share is concerned it is a normal 10.7 per cent. With the show it shoots up to 21 per cent. The TVR with KKK is 6.2. Take it away and the figure is exactly half. The six weeks average audience goes up from 1.1 million to 2.1 million. KKK ranked 11th was the third most popular program on 25 December, a company release says. Kyunki Saas.... and Kahani Ghar Ghar Kii took the top two spots.

Star also claims that for the week 23-29 December 2001 it had 40 programmes in the top 50 while no competitor featured in the top 16.

Coming back to KKK, the question that remains is whether the show can sustain these figures. It will take a ratings figures from a few more episodes to provide one with a better idea of whether the show, which is the Indian avatar of BBC‘s The Weakest Link has clicked with the Indian junta or not. But the start has certainly been encouraging.

Rajan Raheja promoted Hathway Cable & Datacom, a cable TV network in which Star India has a 26 per cent stake, will soon be launching C- Bangalore, a local channel for the city of Bangalore.Though officials would not put a definite date for the launch, if all goes according to plan, C- Bangalore is expected to star airing before the end of next week. The channel, to be broadcast through Hathway?s cable network, will be exclusive to subscribers in the city. Hathway claims a strong presence in Bangalore with a substantial market share in the city.

Programmingwise, the channel?s main focus will be on local & regional content. Its 16 hours of programming daily will have three movies daily in Tamil, Kannada and Hindi supplied by Hathway‘s own library. C-Bangalore also plans to have live programmes like talk shows & music shows. These will be interactive in nature with the viewer getting to put forth his requests and questions online.

Channel telecast will be from Hathway?s headend located at Shree Complex, St. John?s Road in Bangalore. This state of the art head end went operational in August 2001, officials say. The headend provides more than 75 channels to the entire city with a single headend infrastructure backed with a fiber optic ring.

Hathway also provides broadband internet (Hathway Cable Internet) through its network and has more than 1,000 cable Internet subscribers in the city. The service is being made available to corporate houses, educational institutes, cyber cafes, SOHOs & residences. Currently Hathway?s Internet service is available in Koramangla, Fraser Town, MG Road, Cook Town, Ulsoor, Basavangudi, Jayanagar, & Banashankari areas of Bangalore.