In a sudden move, the Bombay police on Monday arrested top Bollywood financier and co-promoter of B4U Entertainment, Bharat Shah. He has been charged under the Maharashtra Organised Crime Control Act. At the time of posting, he was being questioned in court.

In a related development, a special court in Mumbai has granted judicial custody to film producer Nasim Rizvi till 19 January. However, Judge P Bangale remanded Abdul Rahim Allah Baksh, the co-producer to police custody till the January 15.

Both of them were arrested last month for their alleged links with underworld don Chhota Shakeel in the production of the Bollywood potboiler "Chori Chori Chupke Chupke" and conspiring with him to kill film personalities. Shah was the financier of the film.

Ravi Gupta, MD, B4U, said he was still awaiting further details when questioned as to the repercussions the arrest would have on the channel‘s fortunes.

National broadcaster Doordarshan has made a written offer to WSG-Nimbus Pvt. Ltd for telecast rights of international cricket in Sri Lanka, Nimbus Communications Chairman Harish Thawani said on Friday.

WSG-Nimbus is a 50:50 joint venture between the UK based WSG plc and India‘s Nimbus.

Thawani said that while talks were on with other broadcasters too, both primary and secondary, the final decision would cover not just financial considerations but also the kind of exposure that would be achieved.

In this context, a package arrangement involving Doordarshan and a private broadcaster was a possibility, he said.

Thawani added that Nimbus had already finalised a title sponsorship deal for the 14 international tours to be played in the emerald isles over the next three years.

His comments were in response to questions raised about the saleability of the tours. Satish Menon head of Buddha Films, the sports ventures spin-off of Zee Telefilms, had earlier told indiatelevision.com: "Three-year exclusive broadcast rights for international cricket played in Sri Lanka had fallen through because Nimbus‘ asking price of $25 million was much too high." Thawani retorted that Nimbus had rejected a written offer for telecast rights from Zee Telefilms because of doubts over payment security.

Zee was not in the picture at all at present he said, adding that discussions were still on with other channels whose bids were "more secure".

The Indian Broadcasting Federation (IBF), which has representation from all major channels, is setting up a committee to review the television rating systems in India.

Presently, there are no uniform guidelines wherein agencies can rate programmes on various channels.

"The IBF is putting together a technical committee to prescribe the technical specifications for a rating system which would be valid for India," the Financial Express quoted Bhuvan Lall, executive director, IBF, as saying.

The IBF has 29 members, including representatives of Doordarshan, Star, Zee, Sony, Discovery, TV Today, Sahara, ESPN, BBC, UTV, Enadu, Sabe and Sun TV, among others.

The review committee, which is expected to present a final report in the next three to four months will have representatives from all major broadcasters/TV channels, Lall said.

After the committee finalises its report, independent rating agencies that broadcasters subscribe to will have to conform to the guidelines in the report, according to Lall. The IBF expects the initiative to be the first step in offering a fair rating system for TV programmes.

Rating of TV programmes is a major issue in the industry, and the IBF is determined to address all issues that impact the industry as a whole, Lall said.