It‘s taking time but it‘s happening. A legal framework for dealing with the rampant pirating of cable signals is slowly falling into place.

Thursday‘s Delhi High Court ruling restraining as many as 27 cable operators and networks across the country from unauthorised telecast of today‘s Nat West Series final between India and England (Sri Lanka was earlier eliminated from the cricket triangular) marks the widening of the scope as far as efforts to stop piracy is concerned.

The strictures apply to cable operators across six states - Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Rajasthan and Haryana.

UK broadcaster BBC is now firmly in charge of making sure that the conversion from analogue to digital television in Britain proceeds smoothly. It has been awarded the three licences which were left vacant after the collapse of ITV Digital.

Tenders were invited for the licences in March after ITV Digital was forced into administration due to losses which exceeded ?1 billion.

As per the 12-year deal announced by the Independent Television Commission the consortium which is led by the BBC and BSkyB can start its new digital terrestrial service later in the year.

Viewers will now get a bonanza of 27 digital free-to-view channels. In addition they will also enjoy radio and interactive services, through an existing aerial. The only cost incurred is that of a set top box for around ?100.

Reports indicate that the decision to give the licences to the BBC rather than a rival bid from ITV and Channel 4 gives a fresh start to digital terrestrial television.

The Governments aim to switch off the traditional analogue signal by 2010 can only materialise if 95 per cent of homes have access to digital.

The corporation said it will spend ?3.5 billion of licence fee payers‘ money on the new service over the next 12 years, including more than ?5 million a year on marketing.

Fortune Star a wholly owned subsidiary of the Star Group, Triage Entertainment and West End Stories have joined forces to produce "Hong Kong Caf颮 This is an original one-hour series highlighting Hong Kong action movies and martial arts in the US. The series will be distributed in America by DreamWorks Television and in Asia by Fortune Star.

An official release informs that the series features Hong Kong action films‘ greatest scenes on a high-tech set. It will be offered for broadcasting to major U.S. TV networks and stations in the coming weeks. Production is scheduled to begin later this month in Los Angeles.

The series has access to more than 600 classic Hong Kong action films. This has been made possible by an extensive clip licensing agreement between Triage and Fortune STAR. It will feature legendary action films starring crossover martial arts stars such as Jackie Chan, Bruce Lee, Chow Yun-fat.

The high-tech caf頳et is reminiscent of the bar/restaurant locale frequently seen in Hong Kong films, and will be frequented by rising stars. These series regulars will provide interstitial conversation along with comedy, fashion and music elements. Fortune STAR is the content arm of Star for distribution, production and commissioning of its programming content.