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."

The Webby Awards - run by the The International Academy of Digital Arts & Sciences - are the pinnacle of recognition that Internet sites receive from the industry for excellence in the online realm. And in its sixth edition, the Webbys saw quite a few media firms getting a pat on their backs for their Internet forays.

The BBC pocketed two awards - one for Best News and the second for Best Radio. The Osbournes a reality show focusing on rock star Ozzy Osbourne‘s family bagged one for best television. Search engine Google pocketed the best practices award for the second year in succession for serving as a model of excellence.

Several sites walked away with both a Webby Award and a People‘s Voice Award, which is decided by public vote. Dual winners included espn.com for Best Sports, Lonely Planet Online; Amazon.com for Best Commerce; The Onion for Best Humor; epicurious.com for Best Living; and evite.com for Best Services.

The sixth year of the Webbys witnessed a record number of entries - indicating that the disgruntlement by the business world with the Internet was easing off. Entries from 36 nations came in. Among these: AllAfrica.com (Mauritius-News), Debkafile (Israel-News), BBC News Online (United Kingdom-News), Freemuse (Denmark-Music), RTE Interactive Radio (Ireland-Radio), and The Vatican (Vatican City-Spirituality).

Three new awards- The Rising Star Award, the Top Global Site and the Top US site - were unfurled at the Webby Awards 2002. These recognise sites that excel at attracting visitors and were presented in partnership with Nielsen//NetRatings.

The winners of the three awards were the following in the order stated: self-assessment site Emode, Yahoo! and AOL.com.

The list of winners:
ACTIVISIM: tolerance.org
BEST PRACTICES: Google
BROADBAND: GUGGENHEIM.COM
COMMERCE: Amazon.com
COMMUNITY: Idealist.org
EDUCATION: Exploratorium
FASHION: ZOOZOOM.com Magazine
FILM: Donnie Darko
FINANCE: Yahoo! Finance
GAMES: Netbaby
GOVERNMENT and LAW: Library of Congress
HEALTH: teenwire.com
HUMOR: The Onion
KIDS: OLogy
LIVING: epicurious.com
MUSIC: LOOPLABS
NET ART: 360degrees
NEWS: BBC News
PERSONAL SITE: The Committee to Free Lori Berenson
POLITICS: Center for Responsive Politics
PRINT and ZINES: Salon.com
RADIO: BBC Radio 4 website
SCIENCE: Becoming Human
SERVICES: evite
SPIRITUALITY: BeliefNet
SPORTS: ESPN.com
TECHNICAL ACHIEVEMENT : David Rumsey Historical Map Collection
TRAVEL: Lonely Planet Online
TELEVISION: The Osbournes
WEIRD: Devices of Wonder
RISING STAR: Emode
TOP U.S. PROPERTY: AOL
TOP GLOBAL PROPERTY: Yahoo!

Business channel CNBC India in association with Sun Microsystems and Wipro Infotech today announced Managing India Brainstorm IV (MIB IV).

To be held on 28 June at The Grand Hyatt Hotel, New Delhi, the high-powered forum will focus on the theme - The New Economic Growth Drivers.

MIB IV would be aimed at determining where the next economic growth push could come from. It will dwell on issues such as how upcoming growth sectors can be nurtured better, evolving the right growth structure, what the key success factors for Indian industry will be and where the new challenges will originate, an official release states.

The Brainstorm is a confluence of the best minds from diverse streams of Industry and Business. It is envisaged as the top executive forum for the creation of a balanced and comprehensive view of the state of India‘s industry and economy and concomitant issues.

The forum will feature a keynote address from Azeem Premji. The panelists include Amit Burman (Dabur), Gautam Dalal (KPMG), Omkar Goswami (Economist), Sunil Munjal (Hero Group), RV Shahi (Union Power Secretary) and Promod Bhasin (GE Caps).

Managing India Brainstorm saw its birth in Mumbai and was followed by sessions in New Delhi & Bangalore. The Brainstorms held in Mumbai (July), Delhi (October) and Bangalore (December) were attended by over 200 corporate decision-makers from across industries, sectors and ideological affinities, the release states.

The list of MIB initiators at earlier sessions include GN Bajpai (Life Insurance Corporation), MS Banga (Hindustan Lever Ltd.), Scott Bayman (GE India), KV Kamath (ICICI Group), Dr Kiran Karnik (Nasscom), Dr K Kasturirangan (ISRO), Vivek Kulkarni (Secretary to the IT Dept.), Anand Mahindra (Mahindra & Mahindra Group), DR Mehta (Ex-Chairman SEBI), Nandan Nilekani (Infosys), Ranjit Pandit (McKinsey ), Bhaskar Pramanik (SUN Microsystems), S Ramadorai (Tata Consultancy), Dr Anji Reddy (Reddy Laboratories), Dr Pratap Reddy (Apollo Hospital), Analjit Singh (Max New York Life ) and Gautam Thapar (BILT).