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etc in strategic tie-up with HMV

Sep 22, 2001

Entertainment music channel etc has signed a strategic deal with RPG owned music company Saregama HMV.

Zeenext launches Internet over cable in Mysore

Submitted by ITV Production on Sep 21, 2001

The MSOs are moving into Mysore. Zeenext.com, the cable ISP from the Zee Network stable, launched its Internet over cable TV services in Mysore on Wednesday (19 September).

The service, provided by Zee group MSO Siticable, is already up and running in Bangalore and has managed to attract a huge chunk of subscribers - both corporate and individual - in the garden city, a company release says.

Since Siti Cable is the major cable TV player in Mysore, Zeenext is targeting a maximum number of internet over cable subscribers in Mysore. While retail subscriber numbers are difficult to estimate, all SMEs, computer institutes, corporates and cybercafes are being targetting, an official source in Siticable says.

The Net is being delivered over one Siticable headend that covers all of Mysore, the source says. Siticable reaches more than 50,000 subscribers in Mysore so that will be the subscriber base targeted in the initial stages at least.

And the charges. For corporates it is Rs3000 per month while for home segment it is Rs1500 per month. There are a number of schemes available and for a complete rate card details are available on the website link - http://www.zeeaccess.com/tarrif.htm.

The modems in use are are: GI - SB3100i-Eu-CN-BG (surf-board) and RCA - DCM215 (digital broadband), Both the models are DOCSIS compatible. As far as bandwidth is concerned, 2 Mbps is what is dedicated to Mysore. In Bangalore, Siti has provided a 12 Mbps capacity through the international gateway supplied by New Skies Satellites.

ESPN-Star Sports' 'Super Selector' ready and web enabled

Submitted by ITV Production on Sep 21, 2001

News Headline

Star host Naseeruddin Shah couldn‘t make it but there were two legends from the cricket world - Sunil Gavaskar and Geoffrey Boycott - on hand to cover for him as ESPN-Star Sports yesterday announced the launch of its new interactive show "Super Selector." The first of the series - a preview show - airs today at 8:30 PM

Shah will be hosting two Super Selector shows a month - a preview and a review show. The preview show will discuss the possibilities for the next month while the review show will feature the analysis of the players‘ performances around the world.

"Super Selector" will be the first simulcast feature programme on ESPN and STAR Sports and will be a complete integrated, interactive and innovative cricket game show which provides an opportunity for viewers to demonstrate knowledge of the game.

While cricket experts nominate their own teams, all the participants will actually get to play this game against the best of talent in the world of international cricket. Interactivity is what it is all about. While participation in the contest is via the ESS website www.espnstar.com, in what is billed as an attempt to reach out to a wider audience entries can also be sent in through offline publications. The weekly magazine "India Today" has been roped in as the national partner while Mumbai‘s Mid-Day afternoon, the Hindustan Times in New Delhi and the Gujarat Samachar in Ahmedabad are the newspapers with which tie-ups have been done. Manu Sawhney, managing director, ESPN Software India Ltd., said talks were on with other publications as well to broadbase the show as much as possible.

(From left) Cyrus Broacha, Naseeruddin Shah, Sunil Gavaskar, and Geoffrey Boycott on the sets of Super Selector

What exactly it is the newspaper inserts are supposed to achieve is a bit hazy though. As per the game rules one can send in his / her team choice on the prescribed forms (a team will be have five batsmen, four bowlers, one wicket keeper and one all-rounder) to reach ESPN by midnight of the last day of each month. And one is allowed to substitute three team members before the 21st of each month. Only problem is that all substitutions have to be made through the espnstar.com website. So we are back to the web as the only medium through which it is practical to participate in this programme.

As for what is being done on the tube, other than the preview and review shows, to keep interest kicking, there will be 24 new insterstitials per week carrying information bytes of a minute to a minute and a half duration which will give constant updates on how various teams are faring.

Queried on whether there were any similar shows abroad Boycott said that the UK there was a popular selector series called Fantasy Cricket organised by one of the newspaper chains which had also developed a Fantasy Soccer franchise.

As for the logo, which on first look gives a feel of astrological illustrations (after all the show is all about predictions - even if only about a cricket team), it has been designed by the ESPN team in Singapore.