Daily sports news programming during prime time is not proving as difficult as some feared for ESPN-Star Sports (ESS). Sportsline on Star Sports and the Hindi-language SportsCenter have both found audiences despite being pitted against daily soaps, a company release states.

Following on the success of SportsCenter, which debuted in March in India, the programme will be launched in Mandarin and English across the rest of Asia and China starting August.

Nearly 30 million people have tuned in to Star Sports to watch Sportsline since its launch last September, while close on 10 million watched ESPN‘s Hindi-language SportsCenter in just its first nine weeks of broadcast, the release says.

According to ESS managing director Rik Dovey, these figures are encouraging. "The 10 PM time slot is tough with our bulletins up against the top local serials and soap operas, so we are pleased to be carving out an audience for our programmes.

Sportsline, India‘s first live half-hour sports news programme, offers viewers international sports news from an Indian perspective, together with comprehensive coverage of domestic sporting events.

Sportsline has proved a good example of interactivity too as large numbers of Indian viewers log onto the company‘s website, espnstar.com, to participate in "Your Shout", an online extension of the programme. More than 10,000 people have responded to the weekly poll that invites viewers to vote on issues raised in the on-air programme.

SportsCenter on ESPN has performed well too since it debuted in India in March this year, presented in Hindi by Darain Shahidi. Within nine weeks of the India launch, 24 per cent of the cable audience had tuned in to SportsCenter. Again, the figures for upscale males were prominent, with 26 per cent of this universe having watched the programme. The information has been collated from market research agency ORG-Marg‘s Intam data, the release says.

The Cable & Satellite Broadcasting Association of Asia (Casbaa) will formally launch the Casbaa Satellite Group on 18 June in Singapore with a one-day conference featuring a keynote address from Douglas Kahn, president and CEO of PanAmSat, as well as the participation of senior executives from SES Astra, Boeing Space, Americom Asia-Pacifc, Shinawatra Satellite, AsiaSat, STAR Group, New Skies Satellite, AOL Time Warner and Binariang Satellite.

Among the papers that will be presented at the conference include: "Ten Years Ahead - Next Generation Satcoms" (speaker Randy Brinkley, president, Boeing Satellite Systems); "Broadband via Satellite - Prospects & Perils For Asia" (speaker Christopher Slaughter director Asia Pacific Communications Yankee Group);

"Financing In The New Era: Strategic Alliances, Partnerships, Mergers & Acquisitions."

With the Iridium crash and potential failure for a large, multi-billion dollar market for handheld mobile satellite telephony, investors are becoming increasingly cautious.
* What is the current state of satellite financing in Asia?
* What is the financial outlook for broadband systems?
* What are the various means to obtain financing?

"Broadband Content Over Satellite."

A key element in the future of the communications industry lies in rich media with ‘infotainment‘ applications and services coming online all the time. Many now believe that the network itself is far less important than the information or content carried over the network.
* How will telecom operators, communications service providers, ISPs, content providers, broadcasters and media define themselves within this new economy?
* To what extent will the new communications economy be based around content?
* What are the market implications? Satellite News Gathering (SNG)? * Where are the threats and opportunities?

"Fast Forward To The Future: Strategic Intelligence Now!"

Content is king but does not yet reign supreme. Content markets are developing rapidly, with traditional providers going online, new entrants and specialist distributors emerging and media players merging into the telecoms industry.
* Will the convergence between telecoms, ISPs , broadcast and media continue?
* If content is to be the new currency, how will it be valued and leveraged as a strategic weapon?
* Who are the players in the content value-chain?
* What is the role of content access in forging industry partnerships?

The French music channel Channel MCM is shifting from Asiasat 2 to Intelsat 704, a release issued today says.

The dual illumination has started from 8 June and will continue till 21 June.

The new parameters for the channel are given below for necessary information to Operators for re-tuning their IRDs to continue receiving this channel.
Position : 66 degree East (294 ? Ouest)
Frequency : 4055 Mhz
Polarisation : circular
Symbol rate : 27500 Msymb/s
FEC : 3/4
Service ID : 1402 CFI (ASIE PRO)
Transponder : 25
Signal: Hemispherique Est bande C
Transmission Mode : MCPC MPEG 2 DVB
Band : C
EIRP : 33 dB/W

MCM is distributed in India by B4U Networks in a content-cum-marketing arrangement.