SABe TV, the Hindi entertainment channel promoted by the Adhikari brothers, which had announced a new programming schedule earlier in the month, will introduce the new roster on 3 September.

Paisa Vasool - Thursdays at 8 pm.

The new programming (click here for earlier report) is centred around three shows - Office Office and new shows Dial 100 and Paisa Vasool, part of a rejigg that the channel carries through every quarter, Markand Adhikari, vice-chairman and managing director Sri Adhikari Brothers Televison Network Ltd, says.

SABe TV, which lays claim to the the number four spot in the Hindi channel stakes after Star Plus, Zee TV and Sony Entertainment Television, is steadily closing the gap on the the Big Three, Adhikari says.

The new programming is set to kick off on 3 September and is marked as a weekdays line-up. Divided into two bands - an afternoon and a prime time band - the first (12:30 pm to 3 pm) is targetted at housewives while the prime time band (6:30 pm to 10 pm) is for the whole family.

Office Office - Monday to Thursday at 8 pm.

Dial 100 - Monday to Thursday at 8:30 pm.

The launch of the new shows will be also see a major promotional push, Adhikari said. Towards this end, 50 commuter trains have been booked in Mumbai, and over 500 kiosks in Delhi.

Can the industry finally look forward to the Convergence Bill seeing the light of day, at least in Parliament? Well if clued-in sources are to be believed it well may. The date: tomorrow, 31 August 2001, the final day of the monsoon session of Parliament.
It is the communications ministry which will reportedly steer the bill on the floor of the house. And it will be done at the hands of minister Ram Vilas Paswan, so say the sources. Apparently, the law ministry has gone over it with a comb and the final bill is in the process of printing today.

Presidential clearance is likely to be organised today from his secretariat.
The only delay to the introduction of the bill tomorrow could be the passing away of Trianmul Congress leader G.K. Mopanar this morning.

After a long while in which Sony Entertainment seemed to be in hibernation while the Zees and the Stars did all the running, the channel today announced a new mega-programme Shubh Vivaah (happy marriage) scheduled to go on air in October.

And in another high-profile signing after Govinda (Jeeto Chappar Phaad Ke), Sony has roped in the former queen bee of Bollywood Madhuri Dixit as host. There were no details about the format of the show available.

Ronnie Screwvalla‘s UTV is producing the show which, according to reports, will have prospective brides and grooms being introduced to each other. They will discuss their backgrounds, their families, what they are interested in and what they look for in a marriage partner. If a couple hit it off they will actually get married. On the show or off it is not yet clear.

Shubh Vivaah will be the channel‘s, in fact, the country‘s first-ever reality television show and Madhuri‘s debut in television, a company release says.

Only one problem though. There is already a reality show on marriage in the pipeline on veritable old Doordarshan. It is a weekly matchmaking television show called Swayamvar which is also scheduled to air later this year. The programme will be held before a live studio audience, in which suitors will compete for a girl‘s hand.

Produced by former Bollywood hunk Vinod Khanna‘s Taal India Communication Private Limited, the show will be directed by Anil Gupta.

Swayamvar will feature 26 girls - one per episode - from cities across India, and is expected to be launched in November. There will be no pre-set dialogues.

What with among the all-time greatest hits on Hindi cinema being an extended marriage video called Hum Aapke Hain Kaun and the sundry soaps on air being variants on the grand blueprint it set forth, the idea of making reality shows based on marriage was probably the natural extension of that.