When the DTH notification was issued by the information & broadcasting (I&B) ministry this week, it was not clear whether the 20 per cent restriction was the maximum a single media company could invest or whether the figure applied to the investment a bunch of media companies could put into a DTH operation.
Yesterday, I&B minister Sushma Swaraj clarified the issue. Speaking to The Economic Times she said that 20 per cent applies to the entire investment that either a group of broadcasters or cable TV operators can pump into a DTH venture. If the minister has not been misquoted, then the announcement should spike any enthusiasm that Zee TV and C. Sivasankaran‘s Sterling group had about becoming DTH bedmates. It could well spell the death knell of DTH in India.

Unless, of course there are some enthusiastic entrepreneurs willing to diversify and risk their all behind what could prove to be a long-gestation venture.

Another millionaire quiz game show is to make its debut on 11 November. Koteeswaran is, however, a show with a difference: it is the first time that a game show with a prize of Rs 10 million is appearing in a regional Indian language - in Tamil on the Sun TV network.
Sun TV took the precaution of launching a game show when Star TV and Who wants to be a millionaire? rights owner Celador made threatening noises that they would launch several regional language versions of it for Indian language channels. In the process, the network also gained a first mover advantage over Zee TV?s regional language bouquet should it choose to start a game show for its Kannada or Malayalam channels.

The prize money is on a par with Star Plus? Kaun Banega Crorepati. The show is hosted by Tamil actor R. Sarath Kumar, and will air on Saturday and Sunday evenings. There are 14 questions. Prize money starts at Rs 2,000 and goes up to 10 million rupees.

Sun TV managing director Kalanithi Maran has kept aside a prize budget of Rs 100 million in year one and expects to spend Rs 300 million on the show. The sets have been designed at a cost of Rs 4.5 million by three times national award winner Thota Tharini.

Koteeswaran will launch in Kannada, Malayalam, Telugu languages on the Sun TV network?s channels Udaya, Gemini and Surya TV in the not too distant future.

Every participant has to pass through three zones. In the first zone (three questions) the participant has two choices to choose the right answer for every question. Each question in the second zone (five questions) has three options and in the third zone (six questions) each question has four options.

Participants cannot take recourse to lifelines as there are none available. But they can have something called Koteeswaran charm, which helps in removing some of the wrong options. They can either use it once each in the second and third round or use it twice in the third round.

In the second zone, the participant has to choose the wrong answer.

The show is produced/marketed by a joint venture set up ETC?s Yogesh Radhakrishnan and Suresh Aiyer of Multichannel. Ad rates are at Rs 30,000 for 10 seconds, the highest managed by Sun TV so far.
 

The Living Media group (publisher of leading newweekly India Today and successful news capsule Aaj Tak) is to launch a 24 hours news channel in the next fortnight. Two dates are being talked about 15 November and 20 November. The channel?s name: Aaj Tak TV.
The TV Today (Living Media?s TV division) management has been briefing advertising agencies about the channel?s scope. It will have a mix of back to back news and some amount of current affairs programming.

The channel?s USP is claimed to be absolutely live news programming. TV Today has a microwave setup which will beam the feed to state-owned broadcaster Doordarshan?s uplink in Delhi from where it will be uplinked. The satellite: Insat 2E.

It?s Pakistan ahoy for Star TV. The network was granted the first pay TV licence by the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) earlier this week. Following this, Star TV can now distribute its full bouquet of pay TV services to viewers in Pakistan. Hitherto, the channels were being viewed by Pakistani audiences but through illegal decoders which were placed in the country. Star TV will now be able to collect subscription revenues from cable TV operators in Pakistan.
Pakistan has close to 8,000 cable operators across 49 cities, servicing over 1.5 million cable TV households in the country.

Even Zee Telefilms is expected to get a pay TV licence in the not too distant future, especially after it has encrypted its channels and has been distributing them as part of a digital bouquet.