Prof UR Rao‘s first announcement after taking charge as chairman of pubcaster Prasar Bharati‘s board recently was to declare that two non-performing channels of national broadcaster Doordarshan would be shut down some time soon. Well before that a new edutainment channel with a commitment to public service broadcasting to cater to the needs of children, health, music, dance and fine arts is being launched. DD Bharati is scheduled to go on air from Republic Day, 26 January, 2002.

DD Bharati will be a 24-hour channel available on PAS-10 on transponder no C-19 and C-23, both in analog and digital mode.

The channel will feature four hours of health programmes from 6 am, followed by six hours of children‘s programmes from 2 pm. The channel will also have four hours of programmes on music, dance, fine arts from 8 pm.

Doordarshan has broken up DD Bharati‘s programming into three segments. The morning segment will focus on meditation, yoga, and alternative systems of medicine, discussions with experts, documentary features on health related issues, and health news. It may also incorporate a one-hour segment of live phone-ins on health issues daily, officials say.

The second segment, which will focus on children aged between four and 18 years, will telecast cartoon films, wild life films, children‘s serials, counseling and sports, talent hunts, ‘antakshari‘ programmes and magic shows. A unique feature would be a news bulletin ‘by children for children‘. Now didn‘t we hear the same one from southern animation major Pentamedia at the launch of its kids‘ channel Splash?

The third segment will feature music, dance, fine arts, Indian classic music, countdown shows, event based programmes and travel shows. Folk, devotional and tribal music will also feature in this segment.

Purportedly a showcase of Indian culture, DD Bharati will focus on presenting the best of the country‘s literature through telefilms and serials. There will be documentaries on Gyanpeeth and Sahitya Akademi award winners too.

Prasar Bharati has now invited private producers to make programmes under the sponsored category for DD Bharati‘s prime time (8 to 10.30 pm) as well as the non-prime time slots.

The deadline for submitting programme proposals to DD is 5 pm on 9 November.

The cricket scam seems to have be relegated to the history books as India‘s passion for the game has resurfaced and how. Over 18.8 million viewers tuned in to Star Sports to watch the first India Vs South Africa one-day match held at Johannesburg on 5 October, according to figures released by ESPN Star Sports.

The India Vs South Africa match was the top rated programme of the day, and all other popular general entertainment soaps and programmes had to take a back seat this time, a company release says.

According to market research agency ORG MARG‘s Intam data, the TVRs reached 15 for all male adults 15+ ABC all India (24 markets) during the prime television viewing time between 9 pm and 10 pm, while TVRs for all female adults was close to 12. The cumulative reach of Star Sports channel was as high as 30 per cent during a single day for the duration of the match.

Managing director of ESPN Software India, Manu Sawhney, says: "The phenomenal ratings for India-South Africa cricket at prime time television prove that live cricket featuring India offers the sponsors the best value and an opportunity to reach the millions of satellite television homes across the country. Cricket is a religion in India and the passion for the game cricket cuts across all audience demographics."

Coca-Cola is the presenting sponsor of the series while Samsung, BPL, Madura Garments, LG, Bajaj Auto, Asian Paints and Indian Rayon are the associate sponsors with over 50 brands being advertised on the series. The series has also received a tremendous support from advertisers with feature programmes such as Contests, Spectacular Catches, Cricket Ratings, Action Replays, Super 6‘s, Master blaster.

Will the "saas bahu" sagas be sent for a six this Diwali? Well that would be something, wouldn‘t it?

Two months into its relaunch campaign, Zee TV has shifted around three of its shows in an effort to increase their audience share.

Game show Nilaamghar, hosted by the irrepressible Shekhar Suman, has been shifted from the weekend (Saturday-Sunday 7:00 PM) to a weekly slot - Tuesday-Wednesday 10:00 PM, with effect from 16 October.

Sarhadein has been pushed back from the 11 PM slot on Mondays to Wednesdays, to 10:45 PM on the same days. The change came into effect from 15 October.

Interestingly, the much hyped interactive show, Aap Jo Bole Haan To Haan?Aap JO Bole Na To NA has been cut down from four days a week to two days. Instead of being telecast from Sunday to Wednesday at 10:00 PM, it is now being beamed at the same time, but only on Sundays and Mondays, from 14 October.

Says Zee TV director (marketing) Partha Sinha: "Some changes have been made based on viewer feedback. Eleven PM was considered too late for Sarhadein, hence we moved it back to 10:45 PM" Sinha points out that the network was lining up specials in order to cash in on the Diwali season. "These are at the finalisation stage," he says. "We are responding to changes at the ground level."

He also sought to dispel any notions that the network was on the back foot. Says Sinha: "Despite the media‘s onslaught on Zee Telefilms‘ falling marketshare, the facts are that Zee News has emerged as the numero uno channel in Mumbai. Additionally, Kohi Apna Sa currently occupies the no 12 position as per current ratings. Choti Maa Ek Anokha Bandhan is going along steadily and given another six to eight weeks it should establish itself. Both Nilaamghar and Aap JO Bole?, which are finding increasing audiences should also do well. These are some of the good shows and we expect good results from them."

That some of its new shows will gain cachet with audiences given time is a tautology and is something that even indiantelevision.com has been advocating for quite some time now.

And whatever may be Sinha‘s views on the matter, the channel‘s dogged persistence with flop interactive show Aap JO Bhole? and its atrocious host Suhel Seth continues to surprise the industry, including all of us at indiantelevision.com. Maybe there‘s something here that we are all missing.

ESPN Star Sports, India‘s leading sports broadcaster, announced yesterday the acquisition of exclusive telecast rights for the Champions Trophy tournament to be played in Sharjah. Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe will participate in the triangular tournament beginning on October 26.

The deal, struck between Sharjah Cricket Club LLC and ESPN STAR Sports (ESS), firmly establishes ESS as the leading sports broadcaster in India with top quality cricket coverage from around the world.

With this acquisition, ESS has a virtual lock on international cricket played outside India. The exception being cricket played in Sri Lanka. Sony Entertainment‘s MAX channel, which is also trying to build a cricket property, will be telecasting the two Test matches between Sri Lanka and West Indies (14-18 November and 22-26 November). For Max the loss of Sharjah rights puts a further dent to its hopes of being considered a serious player in the cricket arena. MAX was launched as a channel two years ago (8 October) with the telecast of the Sharjah tourney and has held the telecast rights till April this year.

As for ESPN Star Sports, apart from the ongoing India-South Africa-Kenya Triangular Series, the upcoming fixtures include the Sharjah triangular one-day series, comprising Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe, the India vs South Africa test series, the New Zealand, South Africa tour of Australia.

Manu Sawhney, managing director of ESPN Software India said: "With the acquisition of Champions Trophy rights, ESPN STAR Sports will showcase more than 66 days of cricket (21 ODIs, 9 Tests) with over 528 hours live and exclusive coverage of international cricket. This festive season, cricket fans across the country will enjoy back-to-back, non-stop cricket involving nine test-playing countries."

"The acquisition of Sharjah cricket rights will also help bring the best of international cricket at prime television viewing time. The contract further demonstrates our commitment to cricket which remains unrivalled in the Indian market. We look forward to working closely with Sharjah Cricket Club LLC to bring quality international cricket LIVE to Indian viewers," added Sawhney.

The line-up for Champions trophy is as follows:

Friday 26th October - Sri Lanka vs. Zimbabwe (ESPN)
Saturday 27th October - Pakistan vs. Sri Lanka (STAR Sports)
Sunday 28th October - Pakistan vs. Zimbabwe (STAR Sports)
Tuesday 30th October - Sri Lanka vs. Zimbabwe (STAR Sports)
Wednesday 31st Oct - Pakistan vs. Zimbabwe (STAR Sports)
Friday 2nd November - Pakistan vs. Sri Lanka (STAR Sports)
Sunday 4th November - Final (STAR Sports)

First Session - 1600-1930 hrs
Second Session - 2015-2345 hrs