MUMBAI: SET MAX is getting into the groove as far as pushing the World Cup Network is concerned. And while it has announced two weekly celebrity-hosted cricket shows that will launch mid-August, it is "short format programming" that will be the key message driver.
"Frequency of exposure is our aim," says Rajat Jain, executive V-P, SET MAX. And what will provide that according to him, are interstitials (short format shows) differentiated across different categories. About 150 of these have been created that are aimed at "building the interest in cricket and building the association with MAX," says Jain.

Kapil "Dil Se"

And what about recently signed brand ambassador Kapil Dev. While he features prominently in the interstitials, the famous all-rounder and recently voted Wisden Indian Cricketer of the Century will make his television debut for the network with the infotainment programme Kapil Dil Se. The half hour, weekly series to be launched mid-August and airing Fridays will provide viewers with interesting, informative nuggets on the life of cricket stars - as perceived by their fans, their friends, neighbours and local residents, an official company communiqu? says.

The last section is a wrap-up titled Kapil on Kricket Karma which draws

"Spice Girl" Ruby Bhatia

parallels with the lives of celebrities and how that can translate into success in the game of cricket.

Building interest youth cricket will probably be the toughest task ahead for Team MAX.

NEW DELHI: Which is the best of the lot? Star Movies, armed with TAM data, has claimed that it is dominating viewership (target group: C&S SEC AB 4+ homes, nine cities for Fri, Sat, Sun 1900-2400) for the weekend slot : in June, Star Movies had an audience share of 1.49, almost double of HBO (0.76), and far higher than the others like AXN (0.39), Zee MGM (0.24) and Hallmark (0.03) over the weekends.
An official release states Star Movies beat HBO every week this year, across 15 markets. To buttress its argument the release makes the following points:
? Star Movies, early this year, was the top performing channel in India with this year‘s broadcast of the Oscars.

To read the full power point presentation made by Star Movies -

MUMBAI: Somebody‘s loss is usually someone else‘s gain. News Corp controlled British satellite TV operator BSkyB has reported a big jump in subscriber numbers built to an extent on the back of the April collapse of rival ITV Digital.
BSkyB, Britain‘s number one pay-TV operator said it signed up 214,000 new subscribers. This takes its subscriber base to 6.1 million, well on course for its target of 7 million by the end of next year, Reuters has reported.

BSkyB, 36 per cent owned by News Corp and chaired by Rupert Murdoch, is one of the core assets in the media tycoon‘s global satellite TV platform Sky Global.

Also earlier this month, BSkyB secured a four-year contract with the English Football League to broadcast its matches for 95 million pounds. The contract was previously held by ITV Digital.

In another positive development for BSkyB, the heavyweight title fight between Lennox Lewis and Mike Tyson on 8 June has proved a knockout for the pay TV operator.

BSkyB said quarterly annualised average revenue per direct-to-home subscriber (ARPU) in the three months to end June was ?347, an increase of 11 per cent over the three months ended 30 June 2001.

The company said ARPU was calculated excluding pay-per-view revenues from the Lewis-Tyson fight to reflect the "one-off" nature of the event. Including these revenues, ARPU was ?352.

Lewis beat Tyson in eight rounds in Memphis to retain his WBS and IBF world titles.