• DD News plan dumped after Swaraj says no

    Submitted by ITV Production on Jul 18, 2002
    News Headline

    NEW DELHI: The much-touted revival of Doordarshan‘s News channel has finally been put on the backburner.

    According to sources in Prasar Bharati, which oversees the functioning of DD and All India Radio, the plan of reviving the defunct DD News has been "buried" for the time being. Although the official reason being bandied about is that "reviving DD News was more of a media wish," the real reason seems to be that the information and broadcasting ministry (read minister Sushma Swaraj) put her foot down on any such move.

    However, it is also a fact that both the chief executive and director-general of DD had said on record that Prasar Bharati was considering a revival of DD News. So much so, that a tentative date for the re-launch (DD‘s birthday on 15 September) too had been zeroed down upon.

    DD News was started over two years ago with much fanfare during Pramod Mahajan‘s tenure as the I&B minister. The channel was closed down almost 18 months later on 26 January, 2002 on the ground that it had become a money guzzler.

    Meanwhile, with the influx of new recruits at DD, who now do most of the anchoring and reporting on the news front, the pubcaster may see the exit of some senior people, including its main anchor Rahul Dev, a former resident editor of Jansatta, who has also spent time at satellite Hindi news channel Aaj Tak. According to the market buzz Dev has opened up talks with a private satellite news channel.

    However, Prasar Bharati insiders insist that the newcomers at DD are still raw and may not be able to adequately do half-hour current affairs shows or newsfeatures at the moment.

  • Malayalam channel Asianet goes digital

    Submitted by ITV Production on Jul 18, 2002
    News Headline

    MUMBAI: Asianet, the leading Malayalam language channel, has gone digital from this week in an effort to stay ahead of the competition.

    The channel, that was operating a dual feed for two weeks prior to digitalization, has withdrawn the analog feed and has gone fully digital from Monday (15 July).
    In another development, it has set up its own teleport in Thiruvananthapuram, the capital of the southern state of Kerala, at an investment of around Rs 150 million. The company also plans to offer uplink facilities to other channels. Asianet COO Mohan Nair says Jeevan TV, the soon to be launched Malayalam channel, has already reached a deal with Asianet where it will be the first non-Asianet channel to be uplinked from the teleport.

    Jeevan TV, promoted by the Catholic Church of Kerala, was to have commenced telecast on 14 July. The launch date has however, been pushed over to next month, say sources. The 24-hour channel will have an emphasis on news and current affairs, information and education.

    Technical specifications of Asianet post digitalization-

    FREQUENCY 3642 MHZ
    SYMBOL RATE 19.531 FEC 3/4
    POLARIZATION VERTICAL
    SATELLITE APR 1 - 83 Degree East

  • Delhi cable TV operators plan TV blackout as protest against CAS delays

    Jul 18, 2002

    NEW DELHI: The Delhi Cable Operators United Front - a newly created body consisting of MSOs, franchisees, and indepen

  • Zee Telefilms shows an improved bottomline in Q1 2002

    Jul 18, 2002

    Higher subscription revenues and a tight control on costs enabled Indian media major Zee Telefilms Ltd (ZTL) to notch

  • AirTV's global S-Band satellite network will deliver BBC World to airlines

    Jul 18, 2002

    MUMBAI: BBC World, the BBC's 24-hour international news and information channel, will soon be available to audiences

  • Zee Network Q1 2002 net profit estimated at Rs 490 m.

    Jul 18, 2002

    MUMBAI: Zee Telefilms, which is scheduled to declare its results for the first quarter (Q1) ended 30 June 2002 today,

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