MUMBAI:BBC World Service is launching a new three-part series examining the impact of Asian people on 21st century life. Asian Diasporas starts on Friday, 16 August on the English service and will explore aspects of Asian life and influence, from business and politics to family life.
Presented by Jatinder Verma, himself a child of the diaspora, Asian Diasporas looks at the contributions of recent and established immigrant communities and analyses their changing loyalties and identities, according to an official release. "When I arrived in Britain in 1968 from Kenya, ‘Asian‘ was a minority concern," explains Verma. "Over 30 years later, Asian food and culture are very much a part of the UK mainstream. Today, every fourth person one is ever likely to meet in the world will be an Asian. This is not just a reflection of global population but also of migration. There is hardly a country in the world without an Asian migrant population, so Asians are contributing to the changing face of the 21st century."

MUMBAI: Shin Satellite Public Company Limited today announced continued growth for the first half of 2002, posting 25 per cent growth in net profit over the first half of 2001, or 804 million Baht, up from 642 million Baht in the same period last year. Consolidated revenue increased to 180 million Baht.
Satellite service revenue dropped 61 million Baht due to the 1.5 Baht per dollar decline in the value of the US dollar. However, this is offset by the exchange gain of more than 140 million Baht on the dollar denominated debt the company owes, a company release says.

"Furthermore, we maintained a steady rise in the utilization of our existing satellites, with C-band utilization moving up to 96 per cent and Ku-band utilization 53 per cent," he said. "This utilization is being enhanced by use of Ku-band by our iPSTAR customers, and we expect this to continue to strengthen over the year."

MUMBAI: In a climate where the perceived wisdom is that "dumbing down" works and works well on television (could be said of other media as well), the BBC‘s new head of daytime has announced plans to introduce single plays and documentaries to "challenge" viewers.

According to Media Guardian, BBC is now the clear leader over principal rival ITV in the daytime ratings race. BBC1 had a daytime lead of 7.8 share points over ITV1 last year and this has now widened into a 10 point lead.