It‘s no Prisoner Of War but India‘s first homegrown reality show in the action genre is finally launching on the Zee Network.

Last year Zee TV had announced with much fanfare that it was launching a reality show Prisoners Of War loosely modelled on the successful UK show Jailbreak. Those plans however were shelved but the channel is all set to unleash Romance, Adventure Aap Aur Hum (Raaah). Launching tomorrow at noon it will air on Sundays.

Miditech (promoted by Nikhil and Niret Alva) has produced the show which has been billed as India‘s first adventure-reality game show. Game shows are not a new phenomenon to Indian television but what makes this one different from the likes of Star‘s Kaun Banega Crorepati and Kamzor Kadii Kaun is that the contest incorporates adventure.

Raaah tests the physical, mental and emotional endurance of its participants. The participants consist of five married couples who have to confront an extreme environment. They compete against each other. Each couple operates as a team in the show which is shot over four hectic days.

Miditech CEO Nikhil Alva made these remarks: " It?s going to be the first reality show on Indian television. We have produced a totally new format and not an Indian version of any Western reality shows. With such a show there is always a great degree of unpredictability, since there is no telling how real people will react in a given situation. We will transmit real excitement, adventure and romance onto the screen."

The teams have to play different types of sports which will test their dexterity and stamina. They include yak riding & shepherding, mountain biking, four-wheel drive rallies, rappelling, trekking, white-water rafting and camping in the wilderness. Every day performances are evaluated and one couple is eliminated. Two couples battle it out on the fourth and final day for the grand prize.

Miditech has also produced film-based programmes, talk and game shows by the Entertainment division. The films division has also come out with path breaking natural history, exploration shows, historical and social documentaries. The Infotainment division covers lifestyle, travel and information technology shows. The fiction division makes real life drama and soap operas. The current affairs division news handles analysis, political talk shows, reality and environment programmes.

The Star Network made a big step forward in convincing cable operators in the country to accept its new subscription regime after RPG Netcom in Kolkatta signed on.
RPG Netcom has a virtual monopoly on cable homes in Kolkatta and getting it on board represents a major coup for Star. This is especially significant because both in 2000 and last year Star was off air in Kolkatta for a good while at the time of rate revisions.

Star claims that most operators in New Delhi have also signed on to the new rates.

Confirming the development, A Jawed, Sr V-P, Star Distribution, said: "We are happy to announce that RPG Netcom in Kolkatta has accepted and signed the subscription contracts, so did AsiaNet servicing, in Kerala, where the new pricing and subscription contract will soon be finalised". In Bhubaneshwar, Ortel Communication Ltd, also confirmed the new contract. Among others, the large Multi-Systems Operators (MSOs) like Siti Cable JVs in Delhi has accepted the new rates. The response from the consumers and the cable networks across the country has thus been very encouraging.

The Delhi-based National Cable and Telecommunications Association, representing a section of cable operators in the north, says it will switch off retransmission for ESPN Star Sports for two months.

An NCTA release says that at yesterday‘s meeting of the NC TA in New Delhi, the cable TV service providers agreed to take a consolidated stand against "the arbitrary increase in the subscription fee" for the two channels. Among the independent cable TV service providers and MSOs who the NCTA says have decided to do battle with ESPN are the Zee group promoted Siti Cable, the Hinduja Group‘s InCablenet, Hathway Cables promoted Win Cable, Home Cable and Spectra Net. According to the NCTA release, the MSOs decided while transmission would be suspended for an initial period of two months, they would also be collectively returning the viewing cards of the IRD‘S provided by ESPN Software, so that they are not charged for the duration in which they do not avail the services of the two channels for re-distribution.

Sources in Hathway however denied that they had switched of the feed and said both the channels were being screened. Queried as to whether Win Cable (Hathway is an 80 per cent stakeholder while the remaining 20 per cent is held by ETC Networks Ltd) had signed on to the new subscription regime of ESPN Star Sports, he said talks were still on. The NCTA has taken offence at the print advertisement put out by ESPN Software in some English dailies, allegedly ‘derogatory‘ to cable TV service providers. The meeting decided to initiate necessary legal steps against ESPN Software in protest against the offending ad, which is ostensibly meant to goad the viewer into insisting for the two sports channels from the cable op. The ops say the viewers are unconvinced that the hike is justified, as both channels are "event based and are watched only for the duration that any major sports event is transmitted."

"The stand taken by the service providers is significant because this pay TV broadcaster insist upon charging subscription fee from Cable TV service providers even for the duration they do not avail the services of the said company for redistribution purposes," says the NCTA release. The association has also asked that if any advance payment has already been made to the pay channels by the cable ops, it will have to be adjusted once redistribution is resumed.