MUMBAI: Life OK, the newly launched Hindi general entertainment channel (GEC) from Star India stable, is launching a new fiction property in the 8.20 pm band.

Amrit Manthan will premiere on 26 February and air every Sunday to Saturday. Named Amrit Manthan, the show will highlight the importance of a strong value system and familial ties than riches and social status.

To accommodate the show, the channel is shifting the 8.20 pm show Smile Please to 10.40 pm. Also, the channel has decided to run Amrit Manthan for 40 minutes in the first week. In order to adjust, 8.40 pm show Tum Dena Saath Mera will take a break for one week.

Amrit Manthan is a royal drama set in Punjab and is based on the story of two sisters, Amrit and Nimrit, who regress from being best friends to the worst of enemies, an animosity that is sparked by a dwindling dynasty, a facade of royal wealth and excessive pride and greed.

Life OK GM Ajit Thakur says, ?Life OK has always prided itself in creating unique and engaging content for the viewers that is also very relatable. In keeping with this promise, Amrit Manthan truly stands out against the various sibling stories on television as this show highlights the ?rivalry? between two sisters a huge contrast to the usual ?bonding? that has formed the crux of many stories. The show also attempts to bring to fore the imbalances of life, highlighting how excessive pride and greed leads to ruined relationships.?

The channel said that Amrit Manthan highlights a very key problem of today?s imbalanced life ? that excessive pride and greed can ruin relationships. It displays the gnawing importance given to wealth and social status by society today.

Amrit Manthan is produced by Rajan Shahi Productions that is known for its production values and story-telling vision.

Life OK runs all the shows everyday with an average episode running time of 20 minutes, unlike other GECs.

MUMBAI: English GEC Star World has announced that for the first time it will air an international show before its global launch.

?Missing?, an espionage drama, kicks off on 12 March at 9 pm. The series will launch simultaneously on both Star World and Star Movies.

The show stars Ashley Judd, Sean Bean and Cliff Curtis.

The show revolves around Becca Winstone, played by Judd, who is in search of her missing son. It soon becomes clear that this isn?t any ordinary woman, but a former CIA agent who will stop at nothing to bring her son home alive. There are exotic locations and thrilling twists in ?Missing?.

Star India GM, senior VP, English channels Saurabh Yagnik said, "It has been our constant endeavor to bring new Hollywood shows to India to match their date and time in the US. As leaders in the category, we are proud to host the world television premiere of Hollywood?s biggest show Missing in India, four days before the US. This initiative is bound to reaffirm our commitment to our viewers and boost Star World?s perception as the ultimate destination for fresh Hollywood shows."

The broadcaster is using the digital medium for marketing activities.

MUMBAI: For founder-promoter Harish Thawani, fresh trouble is brewing. TheOneAlliance, the brand of the joint venture company between Multi Screen Media (MSM) and Discovery, has terminated the distribution contract of Neo Sports Broadcast?s two sports channels.

Already weakened by the scrapping of BCCI?s rights to India cricket, Neo Sports Broadcast will suffer a huge revenue loss. Sources familiar with the deal said Sony Entertainment Television India (now called MSM) had agreed to pay a minimum guarantee of Rs 2.7 billion net for the three-year distribution of Neo Cricket and Neo Sports.In 2009, Nimbus had renewed through to 2014 its contract with the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) for Rs 20 billion. After the exit of Colors and the other Viacome18 channels MTV, Vh1 and Nick in mid-2010, Sony found an opportunity and signed up Neo Sports Broadcast?s channels.

For Neo Sports Broadcast, which was tossed out by Star India on review of the high price it had agreed to pay for distribution of the two channels, TheOneAlliance?s decision to end the contract has come as a huge setback. Neo had set up its own distribution team but could not kick in substantial pay revenues. TheOneAlliance came as a blessing as the MG (minimum guarantee) price was high and Neo also kept the digital part of the distribution business.

"We terminated the contract with Neo Broadcast on 3 January. We had specifically mentioned in the contract that the deal would be valid if Neo had the BCCI rights. We have communicated to them about the scrapping of the contract," MSM Discovery president Rajesh Kaul told Indiantelevision.com, without disclosing the size of the contract.

Neo Sports Broadcast COO Prasanna Krishnan declined to comment on the issue.

The BCCI cancelled the deal after Nimbus repeatedly defaulted on payments. India?s cricket board, which has time till mid this year when India plays a home series, is expected to come out with fresh tenders for the remaining tenure of the contract. Nimbus, however, is saved by the courts so far as the BCCI has not been able to encash the Rs 20 billion bank guarantee.

The termination of the contracts with BCCI and TheOneAlliance means that Neo will find bargaining hard if it wants to sell its broadcasting buiness. Indication is that Sony wouldn?t weigh the option of buying out Neo.

"After deciding to end the distribution contract, it is highly unlikely that Sony will look at buying Neo. The Times of India Group may be a contender. Or even Mukesh Ambani via Network18. These are entities who could be looking at entering the sports broadcasting market. But the big debate could be valuation," said a media analyst.

Nimbus Communications had filed, late 2010, the draft offer document with the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) to raise Rs 3.50 billion via an initial public offering (IPO). Out of the issue proceedings, the company intended to use Rs 1.29 billion for launching of new channels (Neo Cinema and Neo Zindagi) and Rs 132.45 million towards the geographic expansion of Neo Cricket. It also stated that it would use Rs 1.16 billion to obtain bank guarantee and provide security deposit for sports rights. It further intended to use Rs 349.87 million and Rs 500 million of the net issue proceedings for upgradation of Neo infrastructure and acquisition of new broadcasting rights respectively.

For the fiscal ended 31 March 2010, Nimbus Communications had posted an income of Rs 7.33 billion from sales and services, while net loss stood at Rs 1.42 billion. As of March 2010, Nimbus had accumulated loss of Rs 4.98 billion.

"Nimbus is in a tight corner so far as its proposed IPO goes. The stock market has tumbled and it is no season for fresh IPOs," said an analyst at a local broking firm.

So how will the exit of Neo impact MSM? MSM?s gameplan could be to bid aggressively for the BCCI rights and launch a sports channel with the lucrative Indian Premium League (IPL) forming the fulcrum. They already have rights to New Zealand Cricket, FA Cup and NBA.

Some multi-system operators (MSOs) said on condition of anonymity that the payout to TheOneAlliance would fall a bit as they would be left without the sports channels. "But they would be better off as the MG they were paying to Neo was on the higher side. Without the BCCI rights, it doesn?t make sense for them to continue. They will save on the payout while incurring a smaller loss in revenues," said the chief executive of a leading MSO.

Counters Kaul. "All our channels are doing exceedingly well. And with the impending IPL in April-May, the strength of our bouquet will not be impacted with the Neo exit."

MSM will have time to stitch together a strategy with or without a sports channel as the IPL telecast rights will be a big driver for subscription revenues till May-end. "They can get the BCCI rights and launch a sports channel. Alternately, they can add more channels and strengthen their third bouquet," said a media analyst.

(With inputs from ASHWIN PINTO)

NEW DELHI: Ministry of Information and Broadcasting Secretary Uday Kumar Varma said today that the Government‘s roadmap for digitisation will be met with Parliament clearing the Cable Networks Bill.

He also lauded the steps taken by the news and general entertainment channels towards content regulation.

Varma was addressing the second annual symposium on ‘Media and New Technology - New Technologies, New Challenges: Indian Media Issues in Global Perspective‘ which concluded today.
 
The meet was hosted by Star India and was in continuation with last year‘s tradition, exploring international and comparative perspectives on media regulation as it affects current debates and the future role of information in society.

The other panel discussions involving media experts from both from India and abroad shed lot of light on the evolution of media in India and the need for a broader approach rather than a narrow-heavy handed approach. The speakers included Wikileaks Former Legal Advisor Mark Stephens; Al Jazeera Head of Legal Affairs Osama Abu-Dehays; NYU Professor of Media, Culture and Communication, Arvind Rajagopal; Aspen Institute Communications & Society Fellow Blair Levin; The Hindu editor Siddharth Varadarajan; Alternative Law Forum- Bangalore Siddharth Narrain; The Times of India Senior Editor Manoj Mitta; TheHoot.com founder Sevanti Ninan; and Center for Global Communication Studies, University of Pennsylvania director Monroe Price.

The meet, an initiative of Oxford University‘s Programme in Comparative Media Law and Policy, in cooperation with its academic partners - the National Law University-Delhi, the National University of Juridical Sciences-Kolkata, and the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Pennsylvania, brought together the diverse views of academics, bureaucrats, policymakers, industry leaders, civil society and legal experts to discuss such issues as law and responsibilities of self-regulation of media entities, regulation of the Internet, and emerging technologies in the context of freedom of information, privacy, and freedom of expression.

Star India EVP and General Counsel - Legal and Regulatory Affairs Deepak Jacob said: "The PCMLP will now prepare a report which will be circulated to all the stakeholders in the Indian media sector."

This Symposium follows the 2011 Price Media Law Moot Court Competition - South Asia Rounds that took place on December 15-18 at the National Law University - Delhi.

The Programme in Comparative Media Law & Policy (PCMLP) at the University of Oxford‘s Centre for Socio-Legal Studies is a research and policy programme that brings together scholars, policymakers and practitioners to study contemporary issues in global media law and policy. PCMLP has a particular interest in understanding media and governance in various environments through a comparative perspective emphasizing the importance of the culture and values of all the actors, both local and international.

PCMLP was founded in 1996 by Professor Monroe E Price and Stefaan Verhulst with a grant from the Markle Foundation and the cooperation of the Howard M Squadron Programme in Law, Media, and Society at the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law in New York.