As predicted by indiantelevision.com, ESPN Star Sports today announced an upward revision in their package subscription price from the current Rs 16 to Rs 24, effective January 2002.

Manu Sawhney, managing director of ESPN Software India Private Ltd, while detailing the kind of sports coverage that the channels would be giving in 2002, maintained that the package was being offered "at a price which is amongst the lowest for a sports bouquet anywhere in the world."

Meanwhile, now that the Zee Network has announced a joint venture agreement with Turner International to market and distribute their channels, it should be interesting what price is put on the whole package when their revision is declared.

(See earlier report: Star bouquet to cost Rs 40.50 from next month)

From January Viacom will integrate the UPN and CBS Broadcast Networks under CBS Television Unit. CBS Television also includes Viacom‘s 34 stations; CBS Entertainment, CBS News, CBS Sports; and the network‘s distribution unit, CBS Enterprises.
Viacom is a leading global media company. It‘s well-known brands include CBS, MTV, Nickelodeon, and Paramount Pictures.

Viacom‘s president and chief operating officer Mel Karmazin said: "Today‘s announcement is the culmination of a process that began with the merger of Viacom and CBS. With sole ownership and key long-term affiliation agreements in place, and with 2001 upfront and season launches that resulted in higher revenues and ratings, there is no better time to bring UPN together with CBS, which is also enjoying one of the best years in its history."

Through this initiative the CBS Television group believes that it can increase advertising sales while building on its track record of bringing distinctive and successful programming to the screen.

Technology has been as much at the battlelines in Afghanistan as the journalists who reported in the foreground of the bomb-scarred skyline.
Stratos, a satellite communication company claims equal credit for bringing the latest news to homes around the world in the form of television and radio broadcasts on the BBC. It was satellite technology that tided over most journalists in communicating their reports from one of the harshest, barren environments known. BBC Radio Technical Coordinator Keith Wood says using the Inmarsat GAN terminal to access Stratos‘ global network of earth stations has played an essential part in enabling the BBC to report the news as it happens. "As the equipment is fully portable it has allowed us to get in and follow the story close to the front line action in sound and vision at reasonable cost."

Reporting teams based in various locations like Pakistan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Afghanistan used Stratos‘ Satelan service in a variety of ways, allowing them to send back reports in various forms, says an official release. Live video reports were sent daily over the Stratos Satelan service, which provides users with access to Stratos‘ wholly owned global satellite network via a portable GAN terminal and Inmarsat‘s network of satellites. This enabled viewers to witness reporters following the Northern Alliance in its quest to remove the Taliban government.

The method used for sending back the live video reports is to connect a GAN(x) terminal, which provides the user with a 64kb/s ISDN channel, to a customized version of a video phone designed specifically for use on the road and with the GAN terminal, claims Stratos. Reporters have also used a method called Store & Forward, by connecting the terminal to either a Toko or Voyager-lite, allowing the user to record their report, compress it and then forward it on to the news room. Radio reports were filed over the Satelan service, and live two-way radio interviews by connecting an ISDN mixer to the terminal.