BBC World Service and IndusInd Media & Communications Ltd announced toady a partnership to provide BBC radio programmes 24 hours a day on INCableNet, in Mumbai.

BBC radio programmes will now be available live from London via satellite in digital sound on INCableNet‘s network in Mumbai. INCableNet had been running a test feed for some days prior to the formal announcement.

INCableNet president Rajiv vyas

On hand to explain the strategy were Head of BBC World Service for Asia and Pacific region Elizabeth Wright and president INCableNet Rajiv Vyas.

"Actually, the idea is not so strange in the era of convergence - we

Head of BBC World Service for Asia and Pacific region Elizabeth Wright

already have a similar, but not so comprehensive, deal with RPG in Calcutta. The great advantage is that the BBC World Service will be available to at least 1.5 million households in Mumbai in perfect sound quality, where in thepast they would have had to struggle with short wave. We fully accept that this will only appeal to a niche audience, but it provides added value for us and for InCableNet. There is now a real resurgence of interest in radio in Mumbai, but at present this is almost exclusively music. We are there for people who want news and information in depth," Wright said.

Currently, the service with BBC is available only in Mumbai and depending on the feedback, the MSO could extend the facility to other cities where it has a presence, Vyas said.

The Indian avatar of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, Kaun Banega Crorepati, came, saw, conquered, and has gone into the history books as the show that redefined the dynamics of entertainment television in the country. KBC ended its run on Star Plus in January after providing the thrust that drove Star into pole position in the channel stakes.
Across the Atlantic, the US version of the Celador-licenced show is also set for its walk into the sunset. Who Wants to Be a Millionaire officially ends its just under three-year run on 27 June, ABC announced late on Monday.

To send it off, the network will reportedly air a 90-minute edition of the Regis Philbin-fronted gamer. After that, Millionaire will be revamped as an occasional series of specials, similar to how the programme debuted in 1999.

With the departure of Millionaire and NBC‘s Weakest Link from this fall‘s primetime schedules, the trend has now gone full circle: quiz-based game shows have once again been relegated to daytime, syndication and cable.

And that looks like a trend that is going to be replicated in India as well because the gameshow is increasingly looking to be a losing proposition.

In response to the report " News Corp takes financial charge of global rights for ICC cricket " World Sport Nimbus (WSN) has issued the following rejoinder:
"World Sport Nimbus (WSN) continues to and will continue till 2007 to fulfil the responsibilities and functions by virtue of its agreement with GCC (Global Cricket Corporation) in relation to ICC cricket, which include exclusive management of sponsorship sales worldwide, event management, television licensing in specified territories, radio licensing in specified territories, and television production of specified events.

Star‘s Focus Asia correspondent Adrian Brown took first prize in the English television category of the 7th Annual Amnesty International Human Rights Press Awards in Hong Kong.

This is the third successive year that Focus Asia has walked away with the esteemed award. Focus Asia correspondent Jennifer Lee took the prize in 2001 and correspondent Susan Yu won in 2000.

The 2002 award was given in recognition of Adrian Brown‘s report on Child Sexploitation, which was originally broadcast on Focus Asia in April 2001. The report detailed the problem of child prostitution in Cambodia and the inability of Cambodian authorities to crack down and manage this widespread problem. In the report, Brown interviewed an American man in jail awaiting trial on child sex charges as well as a Japanese man accused of similar offences. He also interviewed a child rights campaigner who has worked to rescue under-age girls from brothels.

Adrian Brown is an experienced television journalist and has worked in Asia since 1988. He has interviewed a number of Asian leaders for Focus Asia including former Indonesian President Abdurrahman Wahid and Cambodia‘s Prime Minister Hun Sen.

Jim Laurie, vice-president of network news and current affairs, said: "We are extremely proud of this accomplishment by our Focus Asia correspondents. By taking our third consecutive Amnesty International Human Rights Press Award, we have proved that our talented team of correspondents rivals the best of any news team and that we are continuing to provide hard hitting and socially relevant reports affecting the Asian region."

Focus Asia is the flagship current affairs program produced by Star‘s news team in Hong Kong, exploring a wide range of social, economic and political issues across the Asia region. Indian viewers can see this hard-hitting programme on Star World every Sunday at 5:30 pm (8:00 pm Hong Kong time).

The 7th Annual Human Rights Press Awards were sponsored by Amnesty International (Hong Kong), the Foreign Correspondents‘ Club and the Hong Kong Journalists Association, and announced on 8 June.

Hallmark channel is all set and ready to roll for its latest programme initiative The Guardian. The show commences on 7 July and will air every Sunday at 8 pm.

In a bid to increase visibility, Hallmark had its first ever public screening in Mumbai last evening. Designed as a litmus test, the channel was trying to gauge feedback about the the show. Marketing manager Hallmark India Murtuza Kagalwala said a multi-media campaign supporting the series would kick off from the first of next month. Details were still being finalised, he said. Kagalwala said that with the show the channel was trying to create mass appeal for the channel within its niche audience. The Guardian is a show that one can watch with the whole family unlike a few of the channels programme initiatives in the past, which targeted either women or kids, he said.

The show stars Simon Baker who earlier this year earned a Golden Globe nomination for his portrayal of Nick Fallin, the central character of The Guardian. Nick is a corporate lawyer compelled to do community service as the result of a drug conviction.

Baker made the following remarks: "Nick is very complex in nature. It‘s appealing to play a character who is constantly being challenged both personally and professionally."

The first two episodes were screened and what was impressive was the down to earth nature of the story. The characters should go down well with the audience as the various conflicting situations confronting them are easy to identify with. The intricacies of the law and court proceedings were well handled without bogging down the storyline.