The predominantly music-based etc, quoting market research agency Intam figures, has claimed the top spot in the music channel stakes.

According to Intam figures for the week July 23, 2001 to July 29, 2001 (all India 4+ C&S homes) etc is the No.1 music channel with a reach of 4.9 per cent. The channel is followed by MTV 4.32 per cent, Zee Music 2.78 per cent, Channel [V] 2.55 per cent and B4U Music 1.84 per cent.

According to a company release, it is the channel‘s unique approach that has helped propel the channel to where it is. And that is to keep distractions from the song (or the singer as the case may be) to the minimum.

When the legendary Asha Bhonsle was featured it was she who presented her own story of 50 years. The programme was interwoven with many anecdotes and song clippings.

etc also prefers the golden oldies to the current crop of pop stars. The music of Lata Mangeshkar, Asha, Mohammed Rafi, Mukesh or Kishore Kumar have a far more enduring appeal, is the assumption.

The channel also has done away with video jockeys to have what it terms is a seamless flow to its music.

Now MTV and the other music channels may have something to say on that score.

A little over a month after media baron Subhash Chandra‘s Zee Telefilms Ltd, announced its promoters had placed 5 million shares with a U.S.-based institutional investor, another 2.5 million shares were offloaded yesterday with an FII.

Though Zee officials did not divulge the price, the placement will raise about Rs 270 million, according to merchant banking sources. The Financial Express, quoting market sources, said the deal was done on the National Stock Exchange (NSE) at a price of Rs 106.50 per share, amounting to around Rs 266.2 million. The transaction represents about 0.6 per cent of ZTL‘s paid-up capital and further lowers the promoters‘ stake to around 58.3 per cent.

According to a company release, the proceeds from the placement will be paid back to ZTL upon settlement of the transaction. The group promoters had earlier borrowed Rs 2200 million from ZTL for the Essel group. They had announced that the entire amount would be returned by June 30. However, the Essel group has since then managed to pay back Rs 1100 million in two tranches. An initial payment of RS 600 million was paid and last month‘s transaction raised another RS 500 million. CIBC Oppenheimer was the investor in last month‘s deal and paid slightly less than Rs 100 a share for its stock holding.

AC Saha, president, corporate finance and strategy, Essel Group of companies, said: "Placement of these shares reinforces the promoters‘ commitment to fulfil their obligations, despite the share price of Zee Telefilms LTD not being very attractive at this stage.

The figure of RS 2200 million is what the Zee Network had reportedly advanced to Essel group investment companies, which was subsequently transferred to cornered bull Ketan Parekh‘s investment companies.

The announcement comes amidst a spurt in activity around the scrip over the last few days. The speculative activity is apparently linked to reports that Chandra may be willing to lower his personal stake to half the present equity which would effectively deprive him of management control of the company.

It‘s been a year and ten months since the Viacom-owned kid‘s channel Nickelodeon entered Indian air space but it might as not have come at all considering the kind of recognition levels it has achieved till date. In a fresh attempt to get it some viewer cachet, Nickelodeon will be launching a Hindi band of programming - "Nick Masala" - from 4 September.

Beginning the first Tuesday of September (the 4th) "Nick Masala" will be aired thrice a week on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays. On Tuesdays and Thursdays the slotting is in the evening band from 5:30 PM to 6:30 PM while on Sundays it will be in the noon band from 11 am to 1 PM Depending on how the new initiative is received, MTV India - which is directly responsible for pushing the channel in India (without disturbing the existing distribution arrangement with Zee that is) - will take a call on whether to increase Hindi programming.

How Nickelodeon is being distributed by the Zee-promoted Siticable has been a major sore point, with the pay TV service reportedly managing to get a cable TV penetration of less than 3-4 million, and a paying subscriber base less than one tenth of that.

Queried about what Zee was doing to improve things, Partha Sinha senior VP, marketing and communication said a promotional push which involved a host of on-ground activities - including direct-to-people contact efforts and other promotional spots - were in the pipeline to increase the visibility of the channel. Sinha said the rollout of these initiatives would take off by September-end.

DISNEY SHOWS ON FOUR ALPHA CHANNELS: Sinha confirmed that Zee had entered into a deal with Buena Vista (distributors of Disney programming in India) for airing dubbed Disney shows on four of Zee‘s Alpha regional channels - Bengali, Marathi, Gujarati, and Punjabi. As for whether there were plans to bring Disney onto the other Alpha channels, Sinha replied in the negative.

When queried as to whether there wasn‘t cross-purpose activity going on when Disney shows were airing on Alpha channels while Zee was supposed to be promoting Nickelodeon, Sinha had this to say. He justified the move on the grounds that before Nickelodeon could be introduced onto the Alpha channels it would have to become more familiar to viewers. A chicken and egg scenario it would seem.

In the meantime, Nickelodeon still has a mountain to climb before it can turn from being a mere blip on the viewerscope to something more substantial.

ESPN Star Sports (ESS) and Astro, its Malaysian Pay TV Partner, have reached an agreement to make available exclusive coverage of the English Premier League soccer matches on their Pay TV platform for the next three seasons, according to a company release.

Announcing the conclusion of the broadcast contract with Astro, ESS managing director Rik Dovey said that it would provide viewers in Malaysia with expanded coverage of the EPL, including five live matches a week on ESPN and Star Sports.

"We‘re thrilled to have arrived at this broadcast agreement with Astro," Dovey said. "Now Malaysian football fans can enjoy Premier League action at a level they‘ve never before experienced."

ESS will broadcast 165 live games and over 1000 hours of EPL coverage per season.