Zee Telefilms has responded to the charge that it has asked Sawal Dus Crore Ka co-anchor Anupam Kher to go as part of its revamp. According to a Zee TV spokesperson, the issue is that "if Kher has got other commitments, he could well go. And if he is going then we will look at alternatives."
Anyone will tell you that that is quite a roundabout way of asking a person to go. The decision has surprised many an industry professional as they expected the axe to fall on co-host Manisha Koirala‘s head, rather than Kher‘s.

Kher told local daily Indian Express that he had to leave five or six films for the show and he was being made the fall guy. He had also told indiantelevision.com sometime back that he had planned his film shooting schedules around SDCK.

However, Zee TV and Kher will part only if it is mutually agreed upon, the Zee TV spokesperson said. The spokesperson said no final decision had been taken about Kher‘s replacement Ashutosh Rana.

In a continuation of its press-the-panic-button-react-in-a-kneejerk manner Zee TV has given veteran actor Anupam Kher marching orders from its game show Sawal Dus Crore Ka. The management is reportedly pointing fingers at Kher for the game show?s not so impressive ratings and has hence shown him the door. Replacing him is Hindi-belt actor Ashutosh Rana as the show?s co-host with actress Manisha Koirala.
Observers say the Zee programming and production team and senior management are behaving like a fish gasping for its last breath and flailing out in a bid to stay alive. But they should remember panic in a difficult situation never did anyone any good.
 

Despite consistent lobbying by a clutch of broadcasters right from Zee TV to Star TV to Prasar Bharati chief RR Shah, the government is not going to budge on the 20 per cent sectoral cap for broadcasters laid down in the DTH guidelines announced in early November.

This was announced by information & broadcasting (I&B) minister Sushma Swaraj yesterday. She told a local news agency that she had spoken to all the ministers who had aired their concerns and informed them that the clause had been inserted to prevent the emergence of vertical monopoloies.

She added that she had even spoken to senior BJP cabinet member and home minister L.K. Advani about the issue. With the government being firm on this issue broadcasters will have to resort to ingenious corporate restructuring to be able to put together a DTH platform. Or lobby even harder.

The acquisition of a 20 per cent equity stake in top notch production house Balaji Telefilms is just the first of many partnerships that the Kerry Packer- HFCL joint venture will be doing. In an interview to Business Standard Weekend, HFCL chairman Vinay Maloo revealed that the group was talking to at least five other production companies to take a 20-40 per cent equity stake."These matters are likely to be finalised in a few weeks from now," he said to the newspaper. "Our strategy is very clear. We want to ensure that we have the best content quality."

Additionally, Maloo said that his group was setting up a cinema division as well and would be producing movies with select directors. Part of that initiative has already started with the Director?s Cut series beginning on DD Metro wherein cinema makers are being called in to make movies for television.

Maloo added that he was also looking at launching a channel or putting together a DTH platform - in contrast to what his co-promoter Mahendra Nahata told indiantelevision.com (see earlier story HFCL offers set top box in November) - or broadband streaming over the Internet.

It was an ominous email sent out to staffers by CNN News group chairman Tom Johnson and president Phil Kent: expect aggressive changes in the news operations next year as the network plans the merger of Time Warner with AOL.One of the major changes involves putting each employee?s performance under a microscope.

"Expect a detailed and wide-ranging announcement early in the new year," read the e-mail. "In the coming weeks, we will consider the talents, skills and potential of each employee."

The two senior executives first praised the CNN news team?s election coverage, which sent its viewership soaring. "As you know, this is a time of change here at CNN," the email went on to say. "Aggressive programming changes. Aggressive changes in the way we gather the news and bring it to our viewers."

Apparently, the email has sent butterflies flitting about in CNN executives and journos stomachs. Who said restructuring was ever easy!!