HFCL-Nine Broadcasting India Ltd is to complete the 7 pm to 10 pm programming block it had bid Rs 1,210 million for by starting to air a clutch of series and soaps between 9 pm and 10 pm cum 16 October on DD Metro, the government owned channel. The branded block called Nine Gold will additonally air sitcoms, dramas and two-hour movies by leading directors.

Amongst the new shows to be launched figure: Smriti, Patang, Mooch Nahin To Kuch Nahin, Chonch Ladi Re Chonch, Agar Tum Na Hoten, Hum bhit to Hain Tumarhe, Tedhe Medhe Sapney and Khaki.

The shows feature popular stars like Tom Alter, Salil Ankola, Bhagyashree, Rajesh Khera, Anju Mahendroo, Raghuveer Yadav, Benjamin Gilani and many more.

Nine Gold will additionally introduce 'Directors Cut', a series of two-hour movies featuring a variety of storylines, brought to the small screen by leading directors and scriptwriters like Saeed Mirza, Praveen Nischol, Tanuja Chandra, Pankaj Parasher and Aruna Raje.

According to both Ravina Raj Kohli CEO of HFCL-Nine Broadcasting and Prasar Bharti chief R.R. Shah, the earlier 7 pm to 9 pm block is doing very well, thank you. Kohli says that Nine Gold has managed to snare 23 of the top 50 programme slots in all centres in all TV homes across India, based on TAM Media's TRPs during 17-23 September.

According to Shah, DD Metro is refurbishing itself and is to get new look courtesy from 14 November when a gaggle of new shows targeted at kids between 3 and 6 pm. This includes Teletubbies which is being brought to DD by the BBC.

Shah points out that DD is making a serious effort at ensuring better transmission of DD's signal in Indian TV homes. The state-owned network is installing an additional 110 transmitters by next year to ensure that viewers in even the smallest towns can tune into the channel.