MUMBAI: ImagiNation Edutainment India, a joint venture between Singapore based Kidz Inc and Bollywood star Shah Rukh Khan, will set up an indoor theme park in Mumbai in April 2013 under the KidZania brand.

The Mexican edutainment brand has given the India franchise rights to ImagiNation, a company in which the Bollywood superstar owns 26 per cent stake and KidZ Inc the remaining 74 per cent.

KidZania will soon open the first indoor theme park at R City Mall in the eastern suburbs of Mumbai.

KidZania is an edutainment concept that combines education and entertainment engaging kids between 4 to 14 years with environmental stewardship, career exploration and social consciousness activities. It is exclusively designed to help kids strengthen their ability to manage their world through key aspects of learning ranging from society functions, financial literacy, adult professions, team work, independence, real life skills and self-esteem.

The city for children is spread across 75,000 square feet, and will have buildings, paved streets, vehicles and recognizable destinations, offering kids more than 75 role-playing options in its 60 establishments.

Following Mumbai, KidZania will launch centers in the National Capital Region (NCR) and Bengaluru.

Speaking on his association, KidZania India co-promoter Shah Rukh Khan said, "I am proud to be part of the team bringing KidZania into India, as I know it will make a difference to the children here. As a parent, I realise that children are most receptive when they are having fun, so a platform like KidZania that brings entertainment and education together will add value to their lives. India is a young country and we need to focus on building a strong future - KidZania will in many ways provide that by building awareness amongst our children through an experience that is hands-on, engaging, educational, and most importantly, fun."

KidZania‘s revenue stream includes tickets, corporate events and CSR activities among others. The entry ticket for the kids will be in the range of Rs 700 for five hours.

Speaking on the India foray, KidZania Director and CEO Sanjeev Kumar said, "Brands are a key component of the experience as they make it authentic by linking it to the real world. We are looking at partnering with brands that are aligned to the KidZania philosophy of developing the future of children."

Headquartered in Mexico, KidZania was founded in 1996 by a young entrepreneur, Xavier Lopez, who dreamt of creating a place where kids could have fun while enjoying real life experiences. Till date, KidZania has a footprint in seven countries worldwide across 11 centers, with 12 more centers under development and to be launched by 2014.

MUMBAI: Cable TV operators blacked out the broadcasting of entertainment channels on their digital networks since Saturday evening as a mark of respect to Shiv Sena supremo Bal Thackeray who died the same afternoon.

The news channels, covering in detail the death of Thackeray and the Sunday?s funeral procession, were shown on digital cable networks. Mumbai is one of the three metros to have gone digital since 1 November.

The Mumbai Cable Operators? Association (MCOA) is led by Shiv Sena leader and Member of Legislative Council Anil Parab.

Even the sports channels were blocked in many parts of Mumbai.

The entertainment and sports channels, however, started beaming once the funeral rites were over.

The cinema theatres in Mumbai were also shut.

MUMBAI: The Bombay High Court has quashed all hopes for cash-strapped Deccan Chronicles Holdings Limited (DCHL) by setting aside the status quo order passed by the arbitrator granting relief to its IPL team Deccan Chargers.

In a double whammy, the court had also refused to grant any interim relief to DCHL against termination of its franchise agreement by the BCCI. The Court said that the legality of the termination would be decided by the arbitrator.

With this order, Deccan Chargers termination from IPL stands as was the case on 12 October when the franchise had failed to furnish Rs 1 billion bank guarantee following which it was ousted from the season 6 of IPL.

Justice RD Dhanuka quashed the status quo order passed by the arbitrator after hearing a petition filed by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI). While passing the order, Justice Dhanuka said that the arbitrator is not "superior" to the high court and cannot pass an order which overrides the high court?s direction.

"Arbitrator had no jurisdiction to grant status quo. On the same day (12 October), the high court had denied extension of time to DCHL to furnish Rs 100 crore (Rs 1 billion) bank guarantee as directed by the court on October 1," Justice Dhanuka said.

He also said that once the Court has rejected relief, the plea made before the arbitrator is not maintainable.

Justice Dhanuka also noted that the order passed by Justice SJ Kathwala on 1 October directing DCHL to furnish bank guarantee was "self operative and protective of the interests of both DCHL and BCCI".

He refused to grant any relief to DCHL since it has still not been able to furnish bank guarantee. "DCHL has still not furnished bank guarantee. Hence there is no change in circumstances to grant relief to DCHL. No case is made out for interim relief for granting stay on termination. The application seeking stay is a gross abuse of law," Justice Dhanuka said.

The DCHL had on Wednesday requested the court to grant relief contending that the termination of Deccan Chargers was not anybody?s interest whether it is owners, players or lenders. It also pointed out that DCHL has till now invested Rs 6 billion in the franchise.

Retired Supreme Court Judge C K Thakkar, who was last month appointed as the arbitrator, had passed an order last week directing BCCI not to go ahead with its termination of Deccan Chargers following which the BCCI challenged the order in High Court and secured a stay.

Backed by its lenders, DCHL had said that it was ready to furnish bank guarantee by 9 October as directed by the court on 1 October. However, it could not furnish bank guarantee by the designated time following which the court granted it three more days to furnish the amount.

Despite extension of deadline, DCHL was unable to furnish irrevocable and unconditional bank guarantee of Rs 1 billion by 12 October which led to its termination from the IPL after the court refused to grant more time to DCHL to furnish bank guarantee.

The Court had said in its 1 October order that the BCCI?s termination notice would stand if DCHL fails to furnish bank guarantee. The interim relief provided by the arbitrator also proved short lived as the court stayed the status quo order passed by the arbitrator extending deadline for submitting bank guarantee.

With termination notice standing, the DCHL?s attempt to sell the franchise to Mumbai-based real estate firm Kamla Landmarc proved a non-starter. Kamla Landmarc is believed to have committed Rs 12.5 billion for acquiring the franchise.

The DCHL plea comes on a day when IPL Governing Council is meeting in Mumbai to discuss the termination of Deccan Chargers and the fate of the players since 31 October is the deadline for resigning players.

Earlier, the BCCI had floated tenders for a new franchise after terminating Deccan Chargers.The tender notice for a fresh franchise invites bids in respect of 12 cities including Ahmedabad, Cuttack, Dharamsala, Indore, Kanpur, Kochi, Nagpur, Noida, Rajkot, Ranchi, Hyderabad and Visakhapatnam.