No pay no gain. That could well sum up the general sentiment in the industry that in the long run it is only the pay mode that is viable.

Subrata Roy Sahara, managing worker & chairman, Sahara India Pariwar, announced today that Sahara TV would be relaunched in May after a total revamp as a fully encrypted free to air channel. But hinting at a long term plan, Roy said that he saw two revenue streams - advertising and subscription - as the only way a channel could sustain itself in the long term. This appears to indicate that the channel will ultimately become a pay channel.

On the question of whether Sahara would join a bigger platform as a distribution strategy, Roy ruled it out as an option. His argument being that once the bouquet of 38 news channels are launched, the bouquet would be strong enough in itself.

Roy said that there were no plans to uplink from India at this stage and added that Asiasat would continue to be Sahara‘s satellite partner.

Roy made these comments on the sidelines of a major media briefing in Lucknow announcing the group‘s plans for a massive expansion in print media. Among the initiatives that Sahara will be undertaking are:

i) A 60-page weekly Hindi news magazine in broadsheet that would have 32 editions spanning the whole Hindi speaking belt.
ii) An English news magazine that will have three editions - Delhi, Mumbai and an all-India one.
iii) Sahara‘s Urdu daily, Urdu Rozana will have five new editions published out of Mumbai, Patna, Hyderabad, Kolkata, and Kharagpur.
iv) A weekly Urdu magazine that would be published out of New Delhi as well as an international edition.

On the issue of the entry of foreign media into the print sector, Roy echoed the line the dominant print media houses have been flogging - that it should not be allowed under any circumstances.

Meanwhile, Netaji, Sahara‘s first foray into the movie business - a project focussing on the life and work of freedom fighter Subhash Chandra Bose - will be seeing a major expansion in its budget, Roy announced.

Netaji was originally envisaged as a Rs 100 million project, that would comprise a five-hour teleseries besides a three-hour feature film. Roy said the scale on which this movie would be made has considerably expanded but would not go into the actual costing. The film is slated for worldwide theatrical release in January 2003.

ETC Networks Limited announced its Q-3 results for the year 2001-2002 with net profit going down by 63 per cent from Rs 3.8 million in Q2 to Rs 1.39 million.

Exceptional item* amounting to Rs 15.25 million has put pressure on the net profit of the Company. But at the same time company has made provision for tax only for Rs 0.11 million for the quarter stating that deferred taxation will be made at the year end.

The total Income has gone down by 16 per cent from Rs 84.6 million in Q2 to Rs 71.33 million in Q3. (The total income is going down since Q1, the reason stated for the same earlier is due to discontinuation of its South Indian Operations.)

staff costs had remained almost at the same level while sales and administration costs has gone down from Rs 25.70 million to Rs 14.8 million.

ETC Networks Limited, the media company listed at BSE owns the Hindi channel etc and regional channel etc Channel Punjabi. On the Bombay Stock Exchange, the share price of the company responded negatively. It went down by 7.5 per cent to Rs 27 from Rs 29.2 while BSE indicator went up marginally by 0.22 per cent to 3384.

(*The exceptional item represents debts aggregating to Rs.15.22 million pertaining to operations which have been discontinued during the previous financial year.)

SABe TV continues on its promise of providing ‘relief‘ to viewers with the launch on 25 February of a new sitcom Sajan Tu Jhoot Mat Bol.
The show is directed by Rajan Waghdhare and written by Ashok Patole, the same team that has given the well known SABe TV sitcoms Yes Boss and Sriman Srimati.

Also launching on 25 February are some new current affairs progranmmes which will lock in the 10 to 10:30 pm band five days a week. Karan Thapar hosts two shows, Line of Fire on Mondays and Court Martial on Thursdays. Both the shows are in English. Veer Sanghvi hosts another English show Meeting of Minds on Tuesdays, while Priya Tendulkar anchors Jawab Talab, modelled on BBC‘s Hard Talk, Wednesdays.

To round it off on Fridays there is Khula Manch (open platform) which has Manoj Raguvanshi in the anchor‘s seat. Unlike the other new shows, though, Khula Manch is a one-hour programme.

Once these programming initiatives are instituted, SABe TV will have the distinction of not having a single soap in the time band from 7 pm to 10:30 pm. SABe TV‘s family dramas will essentially be confined to the afternoon slot.

The programming format is as follows: