ZedCA, a division of Zee Interactive Learning Systems, has tied up with Pune University to offer courses which will assist students interested in pursuing careers related to the Internet and Information Technology.
The company will also receive valuable inputs from the Taleem Research Foundation (TRF), which is a literary, scientific and charitable society & trust. The courses are Diploma in Internet Application (DIA) and Advanced Diploma in Convergence Application (ADCA). Students who have completed the 12th standard can apply for DIA while ADCA is reserved for graduates in any field be it Arts, Commerce or Science. Education will be imparted entirely offline.

According to a company spokesperson, ZedCA will offer these courses at its centres in Pune, the Maharashtra belt as well as states in the south like Chennai and Bangalore. DIA will take eight months to complete while ADCA will last for a year. The curriculum has been tailored keeping in mind the rapid change in technological innovations as well as the difficulties faced by aspiring job seekers struggling in a recessionary market. In the beginning ZedCA will invite members from the Pune University faculty to conduct classes. Later on the company will form its own team of instructors under the guidance of the University.

The courses will equip students with Internet and Convergence tools and applications. One of the benefits is that credits gained could be used to bypass preliminary stages of courses offered abroad. Besides after completing ADCA students could apply for postgraduate studies abroad fulfilling the 16-year study requirement in countries like America.

The courses are in the form of three trimesters. After finishing one a student if he/she chooses can take a break for a while and then continue. The completion of each trimester results in the student being rewarded with a certificate. The successful completion of all three trimesters will lead to the award of the Diploma and Advanced Diploma from University of Pune.

Dr Ashok Kolaskar, Vice Chancellor - University of Pune, had this to say about the collaborative effort; ?This tie up will enable the University to offer professional courses to students through the wide network of Zed CA centers across the country. This collaboration is part of our collaborative approach with leading Institutions and international universities to achieve great success in various academic fields, both teaching and research." Students interested will have to hurry as admissions close on the tenth of next month. The fees are Rs 25,000 for DIA and Rs 35,000 for ADCA.

Hoping to turn conventional wisdom as to what sells in India in the movie business on its head, HBO tonight premieres its $ 120 million epic miniseries, Band of Brothers, to the hail of a veritable media blitzkrieg across the country.

Band of Brothers produced by Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks premiers tonight at 9.30 pm on HBO

According to Shruti Bajpai, director, marketing of HBO South Asia, it is the most heavily promoted event for HBO India in 2001. There is a multimedia campaign planned around the launch of the show, involving outdoor presence, press ads in various publications in major cities, Internet, radio and cinemas in all metros. Says Bajpai: "We also have an on air promotional plan which is the most expensive on air promo ever being done on the channel." The teaser campaign, programmes on the "making of" behind the scenes, exclusive interviews with Hanks, critics‘ reviews, audience reactions and a ten day countdown were all part of the promotion. In addition, the Band Of Brothers book is also being promoted at leading bookstores across the country.

After tonight‘s launch of Band Of Brothers, there will also be episodic recaps of all episodes. The channel is also pushing the series on MTV and Discovery Channel, Bajpai says. Apart from vantage point hoardings in Mumbai and Delhi, HBO has gone in for interesting media innovations with some leading English newspapers in Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Chennai, Kolkata and Bangalore. An example: today‘s edition of Mumbai‘s top-selling Mid Day tabloid had a double page centrespread foldout devoted to the launch.

Ad spend on the 10-part miniseries, the most expensive original production by HBO till date, is approximately 25 per cent of the channel‘s overall marketing budget, Bajpai revealed. Industry sources say HBO‘s ad spend for the year is roughly Rs 150 million so that would indicate a figure of Rs 37.5 million or thereabouts as the promotional spend on Band of Brothers.

If Band of Brothers does succeed as HBO expects it to, the prevailing wisdom that viewership on movie channels is title-driven and made for television productions cannot succeed will have been effectively disproved.

As for the episodes themselves, for 10 Mondays beginning tonight 9.30 pm, Band of Brothers will tell the story of World War II from the viewpoint of Easy Company, an elite team of American paratroopers who were among the first to land in France on the fatal D-Day morning and played a vital role in the capture of the Bulge. They also freed a concentration camp in Germany.

A scene from Band of Brothers

Based on Stephen Ambrose‘s book, the series is produced by Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg. The series is refreshingly free of the usual cliches associated with a war drama, according to the official release. No fake Pearl Harbour romantic triangle, no sickening patriotic rah rah. Just raw gritty drama that examines the human condition at the time of a war. Hanks has also directed Brothers‘ fifth episode called Crossroads.

Production for the series started last April and finished in November. The series has 500 speaking parts and 10,000 supporting actors were involved. The cast was trained on the usage of the weapons. They also had to undergo the hardships of a boot camp and each working day lasted 16 hours. They were trained in movement both during the day and night, hiding in foxholes and jumping from an aeroplane.

Tonight‘s episode is Currahee and shows how the members of Easy Company train. David Schwimmer of sitcom Friends‘ fame plays the nasty Lieutenant Sobel whose bullying attitude causes the men under his command to despise him.

Rajat Jain is the new executive vice president and business head of Sony Entertainment‘s SET MAX channel.

The channel, launched by SET to focus on movies and cricket, turned two on 8 October. Jain has one been given a one-point agenda by Kunal Dasgupta, CEO of Sony - to oversee the complete revamp of the channel.

Jain, who joined Sony as a key member of its corporate strategy team, hopes over 80 per cent of the revamped channel‘s revenue will come from ad sales, has this to say says, "We will feature only the best and most entertaining films ranging from early favourites to the best blockbusters, in all four slots every day, and not just the evening prime time slot. And, of course, we shall continue to bring viewers the best cricketing action too!"

The new look MAX, which will be launched from November, will also have a special theme for the prime time films on Wednesdays and Thursdays. In November, the channel plans to telecast comedy films every Wednesday, while action films will be shown every Thursday of the month.

MAX is also bringing the whole family together on Sundays, with all-time favourites in the 12.30 pm slot, with films like Bobby, Roop Ki Rani Choron Ka Raja