Discovery HD Theater is the latest innovation from the Discovery Channel stable.
The new 24 hour definition television network will be launched on HD platforms being rolled out by EchoStar Communications Corporation on its DISH Network satellite TV service nationwide, AT&T Broadband‘s Greater Chicago Market and in other markets by Charter Communciations and Cox Communications.

The launch makes Discovery one of the first media and communications companies in the US using digital signals for spurring the growth of HDTV and digital television, says a company release. Discovery HD Theater features fiction and non-fiction HDTV programming in all categories of entertainment offered by DCI, including nature, history, world cultures, geographic exploration, science, education, travel and vacation planning, world news and events, children‘s education and entertainment, health and medicine and how-to programming in the areas of home, hobbies and cooking.

Discovery HD Theater(TM) is delivered to cable systems and satellite providers via Satcom C4, Transponder 14 and will be delivered in 1080i high-definition resolution.

DCI says it will promote Discovery HD Theater in its chain of retail outlets - Discovery Channel Stores - across the US, through a marketing partnership with DISH Network. DISH Network will deliver a live feed of the Discovery HD Theater signal in these stores while showcasing DISH Network HD equipment and services in Discovery Channel Stores beginning this summer.

The network will provide continuous 24-hour HDTV programming repeated in three-hour blocks, and presented in a theatrical format.

Programmes less than 30 minutes long will have no commercial breaks; instead, they will be preceded and followed by commercial messages from the channel‘s presenting sponsors. Programs longer than 30 minutes will contain intermissions. Discovery HD Theater currently has more than 110 hours of high-definition hours available to be scheduled, and will more than triple its library by the end of 2003, says the release.

The second CASBAA Satellite Industry Forum got underway today at Singapore, with an audience of 200 senior industry professionals from across the world in attendance.
The Cable & Satellite Broadcasting Association of Asia (CASBAA) claims that the issues debated during the CASBAA Satellite Industry Forum are the agenda setters for an Asian market covering three billion people under a footprint running from Japan to the Middle East, from China to Australasia. Issues like new satellite services and new satellite technologies and the financing required, which are to be discussed at the forum, underpin the launch of a dozen satellites into geostationary orbit over Asia over the next five years, each satellite being worth up to US$ 250 million.

CASBAA CEO Simon Twiston Davies says he estimates the speakers, sponsors and delegates collectively represent 85 per cent of the global satellite communications industry, including names like Boeing, AsiaSat, Intelsat and Arianespace.

Keynote speakers at the CASBAA Satellite Industry Forum include chairman of SES Global Romain Bausch, operators of the Astra fleet in Europe and carriers of the BSkyB DTH package, JSAT CEO Takuya Yoshida, New Skies Satellites CEO Dan Goldberg, Boeing Satellite Systems president Randy Brinkley and Arianespace chairman and CEO Jean-Marie Luton.

The Cable & Satellite Broadcasting Association of Asia is the region‘s leading non-profit trade organisation for the promotion of multi-channel television and data transmission via cable and satellite networks and represents over 110 Asia-based corporations.

Don‘t look, it‘s changing.
In another fortnight, Star Plus is all set to roll out some fresh programming, calculated to lull the devout and hook the soap addict, and tickle the couch potato‘s curiosity with a re-packaged comedy.

A still from Gurukul

In a marked departure from the usual mytho fare, the channel has decided to devote Sunday mornings to religion, mythology and culture, with three new shows from 7 July. Jai Mata Ki at 9 am brings Hema Malini back to the small screen as Mata Bhubaneshwari donning various avatars including those of Durga, Saraswati, Laxmi, Gauri and Jagdamba.

Yatra, up next at 10 am, has model-actor Deepti Bhatnagar donning the role of producer, director and anchor as she takes viewers to various pilgrim centers in India and even allows them a view of the sanctum, where prayers and rituals are regularly performed. Star has managed to get melody queen Lata Mangeshkar to sing the title song of Yatra, which has been penned by Manoj Muntashir and composed by Roop

A still from Kehta Hai Dil

Kumar. Gurukul, the third of the Sunday package, is a show that is ‘packed with inspiring tales of ancient Indian civilization, told through Upanishads, Vedas, palmistry and the Gita‘?.the series will shed light on little know aspects of Indian civilization, age old temples, saints and parables and myths, says the channel.

According to Star Plus senior VP programming Tarun Katial, the shows are designed to bring solace to jaded souls bogged down by stress, fatigue and deadlines during the week gone by.

A still from Kumkum...

Asoka, the series that winds up end June, will be replaced by Kehta Hai Dil, a weekly show from the UTV stable that will address different issues like dowry, teenage infatuation and bigamy at a social and emotional level. The cast of this show that probes the ‘mindset of the majority‘, includes current small screen icons Aman Verma, Ram Kapoor and Gautami Gadgil and will air every Tuesday at 9 m.

And for those who thought the lather on the soap was wearing thin, Star is working up a fresh one. Kumkum - Pyara sa bandhan, a new mondays to Thursdays afternoon show, has all
the hit ingredients of popular soaps distilled into
one. It‘s all about a close knit family, the

Deepti Bhatnagar in Yatra

favourite daughter in law, emotional conflict, business tangles, illegitimate children and terminal illness - all rolled into one. With not a single element of the classic Indian soap opera left out, this one should score bull‘s eye with viewers. Directed by Sanjay Upadhyay and Neelima Bajpai and produced by Anuradha Prasad, Kumkum, starring Juhi Parmar (who played the lead in Shaheen), Hussain ( Chirag in Kyunkii?) and others will go on air from 3.30 pm on 15 July.

Hema Malini in Jai Mata Ki..

Krishna Sharma c.a, the weekly comedy on Star Plus too is readying for change. Commening with a change in name - its now Krishna Arjun, the show comes in a new format - concept, packaging and cast. Krishna (Shraddha Nigam) is now to be joined by Arjun (Hussain) to make up a savvy investigative team, a la Remington Steele. The channel says the new series is racier and highly stylished, with each story broken up into two or three episodes.