SET India has promoted Rohit Gupta as its president for network sales, licensing and telephony with immediate effect.

He will continue to report to SET India CEO Kunal Dasgupta.

Gupta was given the additional responsibility of handling the digital, licensing and telephony activities of the company a few months back even when he was designated as executive vice president, ad sales and revenue management.

Said Dasgupta, “Rohit has been with the company for more than five years and has contributed immensely in building the network sales team and growing revenues year on year. (more…)

Former Indian captain Kapil Dev will head the Executive Board of the breakaway Indian Cricket League (ICL).

The other members of the Board include former stumper and selector Kiran More, former England captain Tony Greg and Australian cricketer-turned-commentator Dean Jones.

While making the announcement, Himanshu Modi, Business Head of Zee Sports, said more positions would be finalised later. (more…)

The Delhi High Court on Friday directed the Monopolies and Restrictive Trade Practises Commission (MRTPC) to investigate accusation of financial bungling by the Star Plus channel in its Kaun Banega Crorepati (KBC) show. A Division Bench of Justice Vikramjit Sen and Justice JP Singh asked the petitioner and the Star Plus to appear before the Commission on May 8.

“Keeping in view the contentions of the parties, importance and gravity of the allegations besides the larger interest of the general public, we deem it fit that the matter should be referred to MRTP Commission for investigation into the finances, chances of winning, element of allurement, misrepresentation, fraud and other related allegations,” the Bench said.

“The Commission should implead computer experts or any other person or party who may have the know-how of finding out fraud, tricks or manipulation, if any, in the game,” the Bench added. (more…)

Show Time: Fri-Sat, 9pm on SONY TV

Host: Mini Mathur Hussain

Producer: Miditech

Concapt & Story: Indian Idol the hugely popular adaptation of the blockbuster ‘Pop Idol’ format took the nation by storm in its very first season and followed that with an equally popular season 2.

While Indian Idol served as the ultimate platform for budding singers from across the nation, to realize their dreams the show went on to become the most entertaining and involving show to hit Indian television.

In keeping with its philosophy of offering innovative and distinct content, Sony Entertainment Television, now announces the launch of the third series of this groundbreaking phenomenon, with an even bigger bang!

The third season of Indian Idol attempts to strengthen the association with the viewers by aiming to present the best singing talent from across the nation in the most entertaining and involving manner. To make this possible, Sony Entertainment Television has rolled out 12 city auditions across the country. (more…)

ESPN STAR, Asia’s premier sports broadcaster, on Tuesday announced the launch of a dedicated cricket channel for audiences in the Indian subcontinent. The new channel, christened STAR Cricket, will commence transmission in June 2007. STAR Cricket will be the 15th network launched by ESPN STAR in the Asia Pacific region.

Speaking on the occasion, Managing Director, ESPN Software India Pvt. Ltd, R.C. Venkatesh, said, “The launch of STAR Cricket is part of our long term strategy to further strengthen our offering to the sports fans in the country. STAR Cricket will showcase live India and non-India cricket for the passionate Indian cricket fan.

“We plan to add quality first class cricket coverage from around the globe as well. The channel will also showcase feature programming on cricket including reality shows, archival programming and magazine shows. STAR Cricket will be the one stop destination of all the cricket action, history, updates, views and reviews.” (more…)

STAR India has finally got a new CEO. Close to four months after the high-profile exits of Peter Mukherjea and Sameer Nair, STAR has appointed STAR News CEO Uday Shankar as new chief executive.

Senior executives of STAR India and STAR News confirmed the development to ET on Sunday. A formal announcement is expected in the next few days from Hong Kong. However, the STAR spokesperson feigned ignorance when contacted for an official response.

A veteran in the news business, this will be Mr Shankar’s first stint in the general entertainment broadcasting segment. A senior print and television journalist, Mr Shankar joined STAR News in February 2004. (more…)

Show Time : Sun, Apr 8, 8pm

Starring: Directed by:

Reita Faria, a young medical student from Mumbai, created history in 1966 by becoming the first Indian to be crowned Miss World. However, it took almost twenty-six years for another Indian to win at an international beauty pageant. The turning point for the Femina Miss India pageant was when Madhu Sapre was selected the second runner-up at the Miss Universe contest in 1992. After she almost missed the Miss Universe crown that year, a lot more planning was put into the competition. The training imparted to the winners was made more intensive and rigorous to ensure they fared exceptionally well internationally. And the result was clearly visible in 1994, with the twin triumphs of Sushmita Sen and Aishwarya Rai, who were crowned Miss Universe and Miss World, respectively. Their feats are responsible for taking the whole business of Indian beauty pageants to where it is today.

Ever since, there have been an array of winsome beauties from India winning international titles: Diana Hayden, Miss World 1997, Yukta Mookhey, Miss World 1999, Lara Dutta, Miss Universe 2000, Priyanka Chopra, Miss World 2000, and Diya Mirza, who scored a hat-trick for India, by winning the Miss Asia-Pacific 2000 title. This year Amruta Patki and Tanya Vakil have brought laurels to India by winning the Miss Earth - Air 2006 and the Miss Tourism International first runner up title.

Since it first began, the Femina Miss India pageant has changed considerably. The focus has shifted from finding the prettiest face in the country to getting a set of women having the level of finesse and class required to contend internationally.

Reita Faria, a young medical student from Mumbai, created history in 1966 by becoming the first Indian to be crowned Miss World. However, it took almost twenty-six years for another Indian to win at an international beauty pageant. The turning point for the Femina Miss India pageant was when Madhu Sapre was selected the second runner-up at the Miss Universe contest in 1992. After she almost missed the Miss Universe crown that year, a lot more planning was put into the competition. The training imparted to the winners was made more intensive and rigorous to ensure they fared exceptionally well internationally. And the result was clearly visible in 1994, with the twin triumphs of Sushmita Sen and Aishwarya Rai, who were crowned Miss Universe and Miss World, respectively. Their feats are responsible for taking the whole business of Indian beauty pageants to where it is today.

Ever since, there have been an array of winsome beauties from India winning international titles: Diana Hayden, Miss World 1997, Yukta Mookhey, Miss World 1999, Lara Dutta, Miss Universe 2000, Priyanka Chopra, Miss World 2000, and Diya Mirza, who scored a hat-trick for India, by winning the Miss Asia-Pacific 2000 title. This year Amruta Patki and Tanya Vakil have brought laurels to India by winning the Miss Earth - Air 2006 and the Miss Tourism International first runner up title.

Since it first began, the Femina Miss India pageant has changed considerably. The focus has shifted from finding the prettiest face in the country to getting a set of women having the level of finesse and class required to contend internationally.

Global IT services company IBM has bagged a 3.8 million dollar deal spread over five years from Japanese major Sony Pictures Entertainment (SPE) to support its global financial system in which IBM’s India support centres will play a major role.

The agreement, signed in Q1 of 2007, expands on a 4.3 million dollar contract of last year between the two firms. IBM will provide operations and support services, both on site at SPE’s headquarters and remotely from the IBM support centres in India, an IBM release said here.

IBM global business services will provide application management services for SPE’s SAP Global Financial Applications, leveraging IBM’s India-based global delivery capabilities. (more…)

In a move effectively challenging the Indian cricket board’s national tournaments, Zee Group yesterday announced the launch of an ambitious Indian Cricket League (ICL) with a corpus fund of Rs 1 billion ($232.26 million) and a promise to field many international players.

Stung by the announcement and in order to stop speculation, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) quickly issued a statement that its president Sharad Pawar has received a letter, but said no more.
The announcement came as a surprise also because Zee owns the BCCI rights for overseas international cricket.

Zee won the five-year rights for $219.15 million. “A professional league is the need of the hour as is the killer instinct in the players. We will try to do it as early as possible — maybe in July,” said Zee group chairman Subhash Chandra at a press conference here. (more…)

The show that made news and created a stir when it began its third season earlier this year is approaching its end in April. ‘Kaun Banega Crorepati’, with SRK, which opened with a TVR of 12.33 on January 22, has been witnessing a downward trend in viewership since then. STAR India has come up with a new concept for the show, called ‘Khelo India Saath Saath’, to gather more eyeballs.

‘Khelo India Saath Saath’ will be introduced in the show from April 9, providing viewers a platform to win money while seated at home. This eight-episode series will allow viewers to play at the same time as contestants on the show. For every right answer, the prize money is Rs 1 lakh.

Viewers can use the phone to answer questions appearing on the screen during the show by selecting the right option, as long as they do it before the correct answer is identified by the computer. One of the correct entries will be selected randomly. (more…)