After months of wrangling, Prasar Bharati (Broadcasting Corporation of India) yesterday set the wheels in motion throwing open bidding for all time slots on its Doordarshan Metro channel. HFCL Nine Broadcasting currently holds the rights for the 7:00 pm to 10:00 pm slot.The 7:00 pm to 9:00 pm slot expires in September, while the 10:00 to 11:00 pm one completes its run in October.

Obviously, the mandarins in Prasar Bharati have decided that enough was enough with Channel Nine and that they would not give in to pressure from its manager that it had not lived up to commitments of increasing DD penetration and reach in urban cable and satellite homes, re-engineering its transmitter setup and hence extending the contract to a longer term - 10 years at best and 18 months at the worst.

The current bidding process is slated to commence from tomorrow and the tender documents will be available online from the DD site and from its stations from 30 June.

DD has set the following floor prices for the various time slots it is throwing open to wannabe bidders:

DD has said that bidders should be open to an annual increase of 10 per cent for any bids they make. Additionally bidders can bid for individual hourly slots or for the entire band of 7:00 pm to 10:00 pm

The pre-qualification bids will be opened on 18 June while the final bids will be opened on 19 June. Clearly, executives in television channels have a busy month ahead of them.

Refuting claims by Reminiscent Television Network (RTV) that its Lashkara was the No.1 Punjabi language channel, etc has released figures that say its Channel Punjabi is the real leader.

Lashkara, quoting AG Nielsen‘s TAM data, said it had a C&S penetration of 80 per cent in Punjab and just under 50 per cent in Delhi.

An etc release for the period 30 April to 6 May says etc Channel Punjabi has a 17.46 per cent channel share, just ahead of Alpha Marathi‘s 16.33 per cent. Lashkara comes in third with 14.21 per cent while Tara Punjabi is way behind with 1.3 per cent share. The release quotes ORG Marg Intam data culled from a 1,063,000 sample base comprising 4+ age group in towns in Punjab with a 10 to 30 lakh population strength.

What has really driven viewership towards the channel in the four months it has been on air is in large measure sourced to the exclusive telecast rights etc channel Punjabi has to the renditions of the Gurbani from the Golden Temple (Sikhism‘s holiest shrine) in Amritsar. The telecasts are mornings and evenings. The rights remain with etc for the next 11 years.

etc Channel Punjabi is an entertainment channel compromising serials, religious programmes, music, feature films and news. etc Channel Punjabi is a free-to-air analogue channel and is beamed on Thaicom-3. Besides a strong and very large presence in Punjab, its programme mix has enabled etc Channel Punjabi to penetrate deeper into rest of the country and other international markets, the release states.

Chennai-based entertainment graphics major Pentamedia Graphics Ltd has announced it will merge three of its wholly-owned subsidiaries into a new company called Penta Entertainment Ltd.

The three firms are Media Dreams Ltd, Kris Srikkanth Sports & Entertainment, and Mayajaal, says a Madras Stock Exchange press release issued yesterday. The stock swap constituted around 9 per cent of the equity of Pentamedia and 3.519 million shares of the company were allotted at Rs 500 per share.

The three companies were acquired by Pentamedia last December through all stock deals totalling Rs 1760 million. Mayajaal offers themed entertainment such as games, multiplexes etc, Media Dreams focuses on studio entertainment such as television, film software and distribution while Kris Srikkanth Sport & Entertainment offers sports entertainment and has a web presence.

The announcement comes in the wake of a controversy that has arisen Pentamedia being unable to put together the finances for acquiring a 49 per cent stake in the US-based Film Roman.

Film Roman has said it is exploring legal options against Pentamedia for breach of agreement after it rejected Pentamedia‘s offer of 5 million GDRs at $2 each in a swap for 8.5 million Film Roman shares at $1.17 for a 49.94 per cent equity stake in the company.