The Hindi entertainment television sweepstakes is hotting up and Sahara TV aims to be very much there on the viewerscope. After November‘s launch of four new shows, the new year is going to see more offerings from the Sahara stable. Next month will see the launch of Jayate (winner), a show which is a reversal of its celebrated Haqeeqat (reality) in that it focuses on good cops and the sacrifices they make in the line of duty. Haqeeqat, which was introduced in June, has had quite an impact. Hosted by film director Mahesh Bhatt the programme was a breath of fresh air in an environment dominated by likeminded soap opera‘s. It dealt with true incidents of human rights violation by lawmakers. It was produced by Anuradha Prasad?s BAG Films, for Sahara India Media Communications Ltd (SIMCL) and directed by Sourabh Narang. Jayate will be followed by Fateh (victory) which trains its guns on war heroes.

Next up on the channel‘s new offerings list is Har Mode Pe (at every turn), a daily soap. Sahara TV vice-president (publicity, promotions & PR) Priya Raj says there is even more coming from the Sahara cupboard but the shows are still being conceptualised. They run the gamut of genres and should provide telly buffs with plenty of food for thought, Raj promises.

Meanwhile, the channel claims that two serials it launched in November Apnapan and Zindagi? Teri Meri Kahani have drawn an excellent response. Both centre on the family and the channel claims that the immense popularity of these two programmes has helped it increase its viewership base. Apnapan shows from Monday to Friday at 1:30 pm and 11 PM Produced by SIMCL, Apnapan is directed by Chander Behl & V Menon. Veteran film actors like Kiran Kumar, Pramod Mautho, Shagufta Ali star.

Zindagi? Teri Meri Kahani airs every Friday at 10:30 PM It shows how today‘s society is more individualistic in nature. So the need for self identity is important. The story deals with marital discord. Produced by AV Telefilms, Zindagi? Teri Meri Kahani stars veteran actor Arun Govil who played Ram in Ramanand Sagar‘s Ramayana. Other stars include Rohini Hattangadi, Priya Tendulkar, Savita Prahune, Parmeet Sethi and Raju Samtani.

In less than three months, the Indian government will permit 26 private TV channels to uplink locally, if I&B minister Sushma Swaraj is to be believed.

Zee‘s bouquet of seven channels is likely to be among the favoured channels. Currently, only Sun TV and Jain TV are uplinking from India. ETC‘s plans of a teleport near Mumbai with Thaicom‘s help to enable local uplinking have been put on hold following reports that Thaicom is trying to enter India on its own.

Addressing a select group of PHD Chambers of Commerce and Industry in the capital on Friday, Swaraj said the decision to permit the channels to uplink locally is ‘in line with the recent policy decision of the government.‘ PHDCCI president Arun Kapur says the world of broadcasting and telecasting is undergoing major changes with rapid changes in technology. "The policy framework of the government in this regard should also include conducive tax and fiscal environment," Kapur has been quoted as saying in the Hindustan Times

The chamber of commerce has asked the government to encourage self-regulatory mechanism through self-regulatory organizations that would help in healthy growth of the sector.

Two half-hour slots on DD National is what Nimbus Communications has been offered in lieu of the programming it used to provide for the moribund DD News. It will hardly make up for the six and half hour programming that Nimbus had been enjoying on the national broadcaster‘s 24-hour news channel.

Although the news and current affairs programmes to air from 26 January might attract better viewership than the ones on sickly DD News, due to be given a quiet burial on Republic Day, the timing could not have been worse.

Insiders point out that hardly anyone would watch a news programme between 10:30 am and 11 am. The other slot in the afternoon is also a time when most viewers are hooked onto soaps and is unlikely to bring in audiences.

Though Nimbus has laid off 40 of its 70 odd technical and editorial staff working on the news capsules, it has reportedly said that those leaving could be re-inducted when fresh assignments come in. That, sources say, is unlikely with DD planning to create two hours of software in house. The rest (approximately four hours) is commissioned out to independent producers on a quota basis. With names like Rajat Sharma and Romesh Sharma and UTV also in the fray, Nimbus is unlikely to land any more assignments from DD in the short term. As the company‘s focus is more on entertainment and airtime marketing, however, Nimbus is unlikely to lobby for more news programmes with the pubcaster and hence not many of the outgoing staff are likely to be called back.

Most of the 40 asked to leave reportedly did not have much of an advance notice before Friday, when the production house handed them the pink slips. Some of these had joined the team as recently as two months ago, sources say.

The Subhash Chandra-owned Essel Group issued a press release this evening announcing that its promoters and the promoters of Zee Telefilms Ltd (ZTL) are poised to clear the full dues of Rs 2,200 million that were owed by them to the latter.Last week, the release says, the promoters, led by Chandra, placed nine million shares with a foreign institutional investor (FII) which will help them finally clear all their dues to ZTL once the transaction is settled.

Hitherto, Rs 1,480 million of the amount had been returned by Chandra et al to ZTL, which means the current tranche is likely to have raised Rs 720 million and will free them of any liabilities. Rs 720 million for nine million shares works out to a price of Rs 80 per share for the FII, which is believed to be keen on entertainment and media stocks. This, at a time, when the share is trading above the Rs 100 level.

The press release quotes Essel Group corporate finance president A.C. Saha saying that "we are going to return the entire remaining dues to ZTL during the course of this week. Placement of these shares reestablishes that the promoters of the Essel Group will always stand by their commitment."

The announcement clarifies speculation on the promoters‘ sale that was running rife in the stockmarket on 4 January and posted on indiantelevision.com on 5 January‘s Breaking News. (Read: Block shares sale clears promoters‘ dues to Zee Telefilms?)

Last night at 9 pm it was EPSN Software which took the decision to switch off the transmission of both ESPN and Star Sports to one of the largest Indian MSOs InCableNet. The reason it claimed: the failure of InCable to sign a fresh service contract for the period commencing on 1 January 2002 after the monthly subscription rates for the channel were raised from Rs 16 to Rs 24. The earlier annual service contract with InCable expired on 31 December, 2001.

InCableNet immediately responded by flashing a message on the frequencies on which two channels were being transmitted that ESPN-Star had taken the decision to turn off its IRDs, despite a court order and advance payments being made to the broadcaster, adding that it would move the court on Monday.

The riposte from ESPN Software came today. It issued a press release which said that "subscribers of InCable Network in Mumbai are being misled into believing false and baseless statements screened by its management the cable network.

The press release has ESPN Software vice-president - affiliate sales Sricharan Iyengar, saying that ?the InCable Network management is making completely baseless statements and is attempting to mislead their own viewers. There is no existing court order that prevents ESPN Software India from discontinuing the ESPN and STAR Sports services to InCable following the expiry of the service contract on December 31, 2001. Despite repeated efforts from our side for the past four weeks, InCable Network has not signed the new service contract for ESPN & STAR Sports. As there is no contract between ESPN Software and InCable Network for the period commencing January 1, 2002, the question of an advance payment as falsely alleged by InCable does not and cannot arise,?

He adds: ?In our view, it is InCable which is holding its viewers to ransom and are actually serving self-interests in the guise of protecting public interest. InCable Network claims to service over 15.5 lakh (1.55 million) subscriber homes in Mumbai. However it directly pays us for only 1.5 lakh (150,000) homes which is less than 10 percent of the homes claimed to be serviced by the Network. ?