If Saanjhi can do for Zee what Saans did for Star Plus, the beleaguered channel may have reason to smile.

After Saans, Palchhin and Sonpari, Neena Gupta is ready with her new offering, scheduled to go on air in January 2002. Gupta, who will also make her presence felt as the hostess of Kamzor Kadii Kaun, the Indian version of BBC?s Weakest Link, from 25 December, is being tight lipped about the project.

But industry sources reveal that Saanjhi will essentially explore relationships within the Indian marriage institution once again. Gupta is again slated to play the long-suffering wife. Only this time, her chief sorrow is childlessness. Saanjhi is the story of a couple (Arun Govil and Neena Gupta) who cannot have children even after 14 years of marriage. In a desperate bid to have a child, Govil marries a much younger woman - the arrangement worked out just for the sake of having an offspring - nothing more. Trouble starts when he actually falls in love with the younger woman.

The rest of the serial revolves around how the protagonists manage their lives after this turn of events.

The British Broadcasting Corporation and Discovery Communications have reached an agreement making BBC news material available on Discovery?s analogue cable channels in the US - The Discovery Channel, The Learning Channel (TLC), Animal Planet, The Travel Channel and the Discovery Health Channel.

According to the agreement, Discovery has the right to showcase BBC news programmes that deal with the US war on terrorism. Also included in the deal is the news magazine - Newsnight - and evening newscasts.

The ball started rolling when after the events of 11 September through Discovery?s use of BBC World?s programmes on TLC. The two companies have collaborated on five programmes since then on current world events.

Radyne ComStream, through its wholly-owned subsidiary Armer Communications Engineering Services (ACES), has bagged a contract worth $1.1 million with leading sports broadcaster ESPN Star Sports. This is to support a digital television uplink facility in Singapore.

Bob Fitting, CEO Radyne ComStream said: "This project demonstrates our continued success in providing professional turnkey solutions for the video broadcast industry while adding Radyne ComStream equipment content."

Radyne ComStream designs, manufactures and markets satellite Internet-infrastructure equipment, satellite broadband modems, multicasting receivers, and ancillary products for digital TV, data and telephone service. Through the Tiernan subsidiary the company supplies HDTV and SDTV encoding and transmission equipment.