Zee Telefilms Ltd‘s organic channel, in planning for the past couple of years, has finally been given a name-Chakra and is being readied for a lauch.

The niche, "alternative lifestyle" channel‘s concept stems from the wealth of knowledge available in India of the country‘s past - scriptures, herbal medicine, organic farming, spiritualism, etc. Because of the increasing demand in the Western markets for ancient Indian values and products, the channel will initially target the US and UK markets. But very little film or TV content on ancient Indian knowledge is available. "Freshly produced programming in English" is being specially commissioned for the channel, says the head of Chakra, Alok Dutta.

The proposed channel will launch with a four hour band, after acquiring a three month bank of programming. Depending on the success of the English programming , and the demand, the programs could be dubbed in European and other languages. Although Dutta refused committing a firm launch date, because of competitive reasons, he hopes to launch soon. However, ZTL had committed at it‘s Annual General Meeting to launch at the end third quarter-early fourth quarter 2000.

As part of the business plan, the channel will transcend from sampling visual " knowledge to experience", by marketing a range of Ayurvedic, herbal and other products via e-commerce and alliances. Chakra is open to all kinds of alliances - content, carriage, distribution, sourcing and marketing. Dutta expects the channel to be "unique and sustainable."

Chakra‘s business model is pay subscription revenues from the UK and US markets , and e-commerce from products, and consultancy. Dutta said that ZTL will invest Rs 2000 million over three years and expects break even in five years.

CNN International‘s prime time news programmes Biz Asia and Asia Tonight and Asia Tonight will have new anchors as of 23 October. Dalton Tanonaka will anchor the network‘s financial news programme Biz Asia. Karuna Shinsho will anchor the evening news shows Asia Tongith and Asian Edition.
"CNN is committed to excellence in journalism and the highest standards of presentation. Dalton and Karuna represent experience, credibility and professionalism. They are unquestionably the strongest evening anchor lineup in Asia," says Bill Baggitt, vice president and managing editor for CNN International Asia Pacific.

When ZTL chairman Subhash Chandra brought in R.K. Singh as chief executive and created a caucus of senior executives like Deepak Shourie, Dev Naganand, Uma Ganesh, everyone said that managing director Vijay Jindal had fallen out of favour with the mediapreneur and his days were numbered with ZTL. However, Jindal stayed put and the wags stopped wagging their tongues.Today, it become clear that it was only a matter of time. The company sent out a press release saying that "it has now been decided between the Company and Mr.Vijay Jindal that in order to harness his entrepreneurial capabilities the Company will support him to set up his own media investment company."

Jindal is slated to hold 60 per cent of the Rs 100 million equity capital of the new company with 40 per cent being held by ZTL. The press release additionally states that "following this Mr.Vijay Jindal will be relieved from the executive responsibilities of the company and would be Advisor to the promoter shareholder for a period of next three years."

The release quotes Chandra as saying "that the Group encouraged executives to graduate and become entrepreneurs. We are with them in their pursuit to realise their dreams."

The press release quotes Jindal as saying that he was "looking forward to getting into film production and various media related activities which will not be in conflict with the business interest of ZTL."

The decision was taken at the board meeting held yesterday to decide on the company‘s Q2 results. Following the acceptance of the new order, the board abolised the post of managing director with Deepak Shourie, R.K.Singh and Dev Naganand being appointed as wholetime Directors.

The government is likely to take a positive view on the recommendations of the Fali Nariman committee on convergence. Thus spoke communications minister Ram Vilas Paswan at a seminar on convergence organised by Assocham.

Telecom secretary Shyamal Ghosh said that licensing powers will be with the super regulator, with even spectrum management issues being under its wing in consultation with the Wirless advisor.

On the balance, the first half results of the Zee Network (of which Zee Telefilms Ltd (ZTL) is a part) are not something worth shouting about.

The network has chalked up a total income of Rs 1861 million which is a 45 per cent increase over the previous corresponding half. Operating income is up 68 per cent to Rs 901 million, while profit after tax has risen 59 per cent to Rs 588 million.

While the results for the half year seem impressive, its quarter to quarter performance is most abyssmal, with advertising revenue falling to Rs 1382.4 million as against Rs 1591.3 million in the first quarter this year. This indicates that the company is losing advertising market share to nippier rivals like Sony, Star (what with its KBC), and the plethora of new channels that have cropped up. Expenditure too quarter to quarter is down from Rs 1566 million to Rs 1413.4 million. Total income for the network is down to Rs 2274.1 million from Rs 2298 million in the previous quarter. However, profit after tax for the network is up from Rs 320 million to Rs 543.5 million.

ZTL on its part has notched up an income of Rs 1049.6 million in the quarter ended 30 September 2000, with net profit at Rs 320.5 million and its earning per share at 78 paise per Re 1 share.

According to ZTL chief executive R.K. Singh, the results could have been better. But he is optimistic of a turn around in Q3.

"We have taken the number of IRDs in the market to 21,000 for our pay TV operations. We will take it up further to 30,000 by end November. Additionally, we are also starting new programming initiatives like the Rs 100 million game show and are taking our channels into new markets like Australia and the Caribbean. These should start showing up in the third quarter results. We will be back with much better numbers," he says.

The markets on the whole do not seem to be buying ZTL chairman Subhash Chandra and his team‘s reassurances. The share plunged at the end of the day‘s trading to Rs 297, after drifting around in the Rs 310 range. To be fair to ZTL, the market too took a dive as players booked profits before the weekend and the coming Diwali season.

Sushma Swaraj does not cease to surprise you. The first statement she made after taking over as I&B minister was that she wanted TV to be programmed for the family, and vulgarity in programmes should be curbed. She reiterated this at the launch of Zed TV in Mumbai a fortnight later.

She additionally told the journos that the group of ministers of DTH had almost finished their deliberations and a draft was ready. A decision of opening it up would be taken up in the next 10-15 days. Whether these are just empty promises or not only time will tell. Previous I&B ministers have made similar proclaimations only not to meet their commitments because of the various pulls and pressures.

She added that while a common regulator is needed for the information technology, communications and information and broadcasting ministries, there is no need to merge the three ministries into one. This would mean that she is headed for a clash with the Fali Nariman commmittee recommendation which is believed to have recommended that the three ministries be merged.

Another major development yesterday was the announcement that the entertainment sector (including films) had been notified as an industry, thus making it eligible to get loans from financial institutions.