The media has recently been agog about an impending alliance between Sony Entertainment and Time Warner on the television front in India. That seems to be a non-starter at the moment. Asks SET India CEO Kunal Dasgupta: "What tie-up with Time Warner? There‘s nothing of the sort going on?"

Adds a SET India director: "Nothing has been finalised. Things are at a very premature stage." Sources reveal that Time Warner is talking to a host of other companies for an alliance. Earlier, it did have parleys with TV Today‘s Aaj Tak, and Sab TV.

ESPN Star Sports (ESS) will be launching a dedicated Southeast Asia feed for Star Sports from August. The feed, which is based on viewing habits and preferences of viewers from the region, is customised in both programming and presentation to deliver sports popular with Singaporean audiences, a company release states.

This includes the best of European football (English Premier League, UEFA Champions‘ League, Serie A and Spanish Liga), Formula One motor racing, golf and tennis. ESS will also launch SportsCenter, the region‘s only live daily sports news service, the release says.

The news came in the wake of an announcement that ESS and Singapore Cable Vision (SCV), its Singapore pay TV partner, have reached an agreement to renew the carriage of ESPN and STAR Sports channels in Singapore. The contract will run for five years, effective 1 July.

It has also been confirmed that the English Premier League (EPL) will be available in Singapore on only ESPN and Star Sports channels 23 and 24 on SCV MaxTV. (In February this year, ESS won the exclusive Asian broadcast rights for the Premier League.)

Announcing the conclusion of the broadcast contract with SCV, ESS managing director Rik Dovey said: "This multi-year agreement between SCV and ESPN Star Sports signifies two things - commitment and confidence. Both companies are committed to bringing viewers in Singapore the best sports television sporting action and, working closely together, both companies are confident of further developing the pay TV market in Singapore."

Dovey added that ESS‘ English Premier League programming, together with the company‘s UEFA Champions‘ League, Spanish Primera Liga, Chinese National Football League, Korean Football League, major Asian internationals and the Italian Serie A coverage, "completes what is the strongest football programming line-up of any sports broadcaster in the world."

There seems to be no end to the modifications that are being envisaged for the Communications Convergence Bill. The revised draft of the Communications Convergence Bill 2001 has just been re-revised. Industry sources indicate that at the latest meeting of the Group on Telecom and IT (GOT-IT) held on 21 July, it has been proposed that within the ambit of high-powered Communications Commission of India that the bill envisages, there should be two separate bureaus - a carriage bureau and a content bureau.

Earlier talk was around content management remaining a part of the convergence bill. And the information and broadcasting ministry was to convene a forum for the media industry to discuss the nature of the "content" bureau within the CCI.

Information and broadcast minister Sushma Swaraj‘s idea was that all content, including that relating to the Internet, should be regulated by a content bureau. Swaraj wanted that communications should be delinked from the ambit of the bill, the sources say. The telecom and communications ministries strongly opposed this pointing out that the it negated the whole concept of convergence. It was after this that a compromise formula was adopted where there would be two bureaus - a carriage bureau and a content bureau.

The revised bill prepared by the sub-group under Fali Nariman will have to be sent to Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha, who heads GOT-IT, and the prime minister. Then it will probably be referred to the Standing Committee. After which we can expect it to be put on the government website for invitations for further suggestions from the public. In this scenario how the government plans to keep to its stated aim of tabling the Bill in parliament during the upcoming monsoon session remains a mystery.

One thing has been agreed upon though. When the bill is finally ready for introduction in parlaiment it will be piloted by the communications ministry, the sources say.

To read the January 2001 modification of the convergence bill click on the link below.

It‘s hoping to act as a guide in the maze that is Indian cable & satellite television today. Channel Guide a specific preview and menu channel which began its test run on 12 April 2001 may go for a formal launch tentatively on 15 August 2001, "We are in talks with major companies, the outcome of which will decide its formal launch," informs Ravi Deshmukh chief operating officer, Channel Guide India Ltd.

The channel is programmed to provide couch potatoes with a ready reckoner on TV shows. Its interactive menu allows viewers to explore, select and watch a variety of programmes, while browsing listings. "Channel Guide airs the programme listings of different channels between 9 am and 11:00 pm, reminding viewers about their favourite programme timings," says Deshmukh.

Currently the free to air channel has a million strong viewership, and receives inputs from 27 major channel among which are Star, Zee, Sony, HBO, ESPN, he reveals. The channel is available in nine states nationally: Maharashtra, Gujarat, Karnataka, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Andra Pradesh, Delhi, Goa and Assam.

"So far we have received a good response, and we will do better after the channels which have been reluctant in providing us with information drop their inhibitions," emphasizes Deshmukh. "But the response is improving. English, Hindi entertainment and infotainment channels like Discovery and National Geographic, and other sports channels are already supporting us. Next month Bengali and Punjabi channels will join our bandwagon and the rest of the regional languages will soon be added."

Currently, the channel is carrying TV promos and listings gratis for its broadcasting partners. In time to come, it plans to start charging for its air time wherein channels like Sony or Zee or Star would be in a position to sponsor their own promo and interstitial programming blocks. Five of the 10 hours the channel will air will be free to air. Of the remainder, three will be set aside for broadcaster-sponsored promos, while local commercial advertising will go to account for the remainder two hours.

With an initial investment of Rs 100 million (10 crore), the channel has also plans to foray into to webcasting and cater to web savvy viewers and international audiences interested in Indian television fare.

"We have a long term vision for Channel Guide India. We cannot really commit when we will really break even, but our target has been set as June 2002," points out Deshmukh.