A day after the Adhikari brothers‘ SABe TV celebrated two years on air, the "relief channel" yesterday launched another rib-tickler - Doli Leke Aiyee Hai Dullhaniya.

Directed by Kanchan Adhikari, the serial hopes to strike a chord with younger audiences. The plot revolves around two brothers - Prabhakar and Pradeep - both of whom are opposed to marriage though for different reasons. Prabhakar, the elder one is prejudiced him against women, while Pradeep is a compulsive flirt and hence does not want to settle down.

Says Kanchan Adhikari: "In the case of a comedy, it is very important that the initial episodes hold up the laughter and concretely establish all characters, hence the first few episodes will focus on Prabhakar‘s dilemma - his prejudice against marriage and the attempts of everybody to get him married. Of course, each episode will throw up an interesting incident around this theme. Later on we will deviate towards other aspects."

Kanchan Adhikari, who has also directed SABe TV‘s sitcom Abhi To Main Jawan Hoon and Damini (DD Sahyadri‘s top soap), among others, says that even though she likes to work on different genres, she took up Doli Leke? because this is the age of comedies and a good comedy tends to keep a viewer rapt more than a soap can.

If the preview of the first episode is anything to go by, SABe TV may well have an ace up its sleeve this summer.

Getting the ground in order goes more than a long way in pushing through new subscription packages as well as in ramping up connectivity numbers. Star India has just added another significant piece to its armory on that score with its acquisition of a 26 per cent equity stake in RPG Netcom Ltd, the Goenka Group‘s multisystem operator that controls over 75 per cent of Kolkata‘s cable-connected households.

An official announcement regarding the alliance is expected in the next few days.

An indication that something was cooking between Star India and RPG Netcom was evidenced at the beginning of the year itself when the Rupert Murdoch network announced its new monthly subscription package of Rs 40.50. There was nary a whimper from the MSO, a far cry from 2001 beginning which saw Star off the air for 62 days when it announced a Rs 30 subscription rate.

Business daily The Financial Express reported today that Star has already signed an agreement with RPG Netcom whereby it will pay around Rs 520 million for the 26 per cent share in the MSO.

With the addition of RPG Netcom, Star now has three major MSOs under its control. This includes Hathway Cable & Datacom, in which Star officially has a 26 per cent stake, and Win Cable, an almost wholly owned subsidiary of Hathway.

Hathway has a significant presence in Bangalore and Mumbai while Win is very strong in Delhi. RPG‘s coming under the Star wing gives the network strong leverage in all the main metros except Chennai, where DMK scion Kalanithi Maran‘s Sumangali Cable Vision (cable arm of the Sun Network) holds complete control.