Sun is getting into music mode with what it terms is the biggest statewide, inter-district singing competition in Tamil Nadu.
Held in association with New Age Entertainment, the contest will cover 29 districts of the state and Pondicherry. Over 100,000 singers are expected to take part in the auditions at an average of 3,000 per district.

New Age claims that the show‘s USP will be its mascot, Subudu, a well known music critic in Tamil Nadu. He will appear masked during the promotions to help enhance the brand equity of the programme starting from ground level in much the same way that Apple Singh promoted the 1999 Cricket World Cup on ESPN Star Sports. Plans are being finalised to rope in a press partner which will devote coverage to the event in terms of advertisements, contests and flyers.

The auditions will air on Sun TV‘s sister channel KTV on the prime band from Monday to Thursday. Three pre-finals conducted as mega events will take place in Madurai, Coimbatore and Pondicherry. Chennai will host the grand finale at the end of the 60th week.

Sun TV is also beefing up its programming with a family drama serial on the prime time band - Mughangal (Faces), a weekday series that premieres 24 June and airs between 10 and 10:30 pm. The show has been jointly produced with Sa Re Ga Ma, the Chennai based production house whose Soolam and Velan have already had a successful run on the channel. The serial, that marks the debut of Telugu film actress Ravali on the tube, revolves around a woman‘s battle to recover the family prestige back from a vengeful man. The story is the brainchild of novelist Sivashankari and has been directed by K Rangaraj of Kudumbam fame.

Feature films seem to getting the better of television software production houses.

The latest to bite the 70 mm bait is Creative Eye, which is producing its first ever feature film. To go on the floors in a couple of months, the flick will be a social film. While the concept has been in the pipeline for some time now, the details regarding the cast and crew are yet to be finalized, says Creative Eye executive director Wg Cdr D Dass.

The production house currently also has a 3D mythological feature film in the works, but is awaiting the required effects from overseas companies, he says. "Films are the natural corollary of TV serials," Dass explains the company‘s foray into the world of films. TV serials however will continue to remain Creative Eye‘s forte, with a slew of fresh shows scheduled to start on old faithful Doordarshan post October 2002. Also in the planning stage is ‘Super Kid‘, a 3D serial that will a first on Indian television. The show however is still in the ‘experimentation‘ stage, says Dass.

Creative Eye‘s library comprises of nearly 1,500 hours consisting of mythological serial, film based serials, socials, comedy, suspense thrillers and talk shows, valued by Price Waterhouse at Rs 340 million. The company also holds multiple telecast rights for three to five years of approximate 72 Hindi feature films, which can be re-cycled on all Doordarshan terrestrial channels .

Gilat Satellite Networks Ltd. has announced it has expanded its business operations in India and is now India‘s leading VSAT provider.

The company provides satellite-based, end-to-end enterprise networking and rural telephony solutions to customers across six continents, and markets interactive broadband data services, an official release says.

According to the May 2002 issue of India‘s Voice & Data magazine, Gilat captured nearly 70 per cent of the market for Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA) VSATs for the period April 2001 through March 2002.

Bharti Broadband Networks was the first company in India to choose the 360E platform and eventually established for its client Sahara India one of the largest shared hub systems in Indian VSAT history, the release says. Within the past several months, Bharti Broadband Networks has secured orders for more than 3,000, 360E VSATs - including 1,420 sites for Sahara India alone.

Erez Antebi, Gilat‘s general manager for Asia, Africa and Pacific Rim, said: "India continues to fulfill its promise as one of the world‘s fastest-growing markets for VSAT technology. With the acquisition of the 360E platform by three major VSAT service providers in India, we have completed our consolidation of the TDMA segment in the country."