Nasty! Very nasty! Expect big trouble in the shape of a shrewish hostess with a razor for a tongue as the next big thing on Star Plus after Kaun Banega Crorepati.

The ‘Queen of Mean‘ Mary Robinson - host of the UK version of the Weakest Link .

BBC Worldwide and Star India announced in Mumbai today they had reached a licencing agreement to showcase Weakest Link, the biggest hit to come out of the BBC Worldwide stable in the last ten years (and before that as well?).

The show received a high-powered introduction with BBC Worldwide chief executive Rupert Gavin, Star India CEO Peter Mukerjea and BBC Worldwide director Monisha Shah doing the honours. It was a year ago that BBC Worldwide and Star India first announced their programming alliance with the launch of BBC‘s celebrated Yes Minister in its Hindi avatar Ji Mantriji.

The Indian version of this show will also be in Hindi and will be produced by BBC Worldwide in association with Siddharth Basu‘s Synergy Production‘s. Synergy produces KBC as well, and BBC World‘s mastermind India." The show, to be telecast on Star Plus, will follow the original UK format, including set, graphics and design. Key members from of the UK production team will be involved in the making of this show, it was announced.

The launch of the Hindi Weakest Link comes at a time when the Amitabh Bachchan-hosted KBC has lost much of its sheen and marks a first in that the two shows are being showcased on the same channel. In the UK and the US the two shows fight for the same prime time audience on competing channels. A pity that. It would have been interesting to see how KBC stood up in a straight slugfest.

On the sets of Weakest Link.

And if KBC was known for the Bachchan personna and his catchline "Lock kiya jaaye?", Weakest Link is associated even more closely with its "pitiless presenter" Ann Robinson and the catchline "You are the weakest link. Goodbye." In the space of one year Robinson has gone from relative obscurity as a newspaper columnist to superstar television personality - a superbitch who has taken nastiness to a whole new level. She also happens to be every headline writer worth his salt‘s dream concoction. Two gems among the many headlines used to describe her - "Host from Hell", "Queen of Mean".

On the subject of the Indian host for the show, Mukerjea said no one had been found as yet who could fill the nastiness quotient bill, adding the search was still on. Mukerjea said he hoped to find a suitable host within the next three to four weeks.

Questioned on the prize money at stake, Mukerjea said "no decision has been made, but it will be substantial." Mukerjea confirmed that the catchline for the show had already been decided but was unwilling to elaborate further, saying that once the host had been decided, the telecast date fixed and the prize money determined, an announcement would be made.

Queried on the duration of the show Monisha Shah said that it had a run time of 46 minutes which with the ad breaks meant a one-hour prime time slot.

Mukerjea, while acknowledging the difficulties in finding a suitable host for the show, hinted that if a woman was not found, Star might consider a man hosting the show. If Star does finally opt for a man, it will not be a first. Of the 65 countries where Weakest Link has been licensed, the Irish version has a man - Eamon Dunphy - doing the hardball act.

Now if Star could just find that little old nasty so the that the show can get on the road...!

The Maharashtra government is putting up a commercial teleport and satellite uplinking earth station to uplink TV channels in Film City, the heart of Mumbai filmdom.

The first-of-its-kind teleport, to be set up with an estimated cost of Rs 500 million, will come up within the next two years, according to Film City chairman, Govind Swaroop. The proposed teleport will offer a broad range of telecommunication and broadcast transmission solutions with connectivity via satellite and fibre optics throughout India and the rest of the world with C band and KU band transmission.

Says Swaroop: "The teleport will be a unique facility that can work for the IT as well as the entertainment industries." Broadcasters will not need to approach uplinking stations in Hong Kong or Malaysia if they can get a more cost effective option right in their backyard, he pointed out.

The corporation is also planning to put up high quality video post production facilities, at an estimated cost of Rs 100 to Rs 200 million in the next few years, Swaroop said. The corporation may look at collaborations for these two ventures in the coming days, he said.

The state government-owned Maharashtra Film, Stage and Cultural Development Corporation has now initiated the preliminary exercise of conducting feasibility reports and project planning and layout studies for the mega project. The Corporation currently has 15 state-of-the-art accoustically treated studios and a variety of picturesque locations in Dadasaheb Phalke Chitranagari, more popularly known as Film City.

It already has a sophisticated film processing laboratory and telecine facilities in Film City. A film institute is proposed to be put up in collaboration with filmmaker Subhash Ghai‘s Mukta Arts.

Prof UR Rao‘s first announcement after taking charge as chairman of pubcaster Prasar Bharati‘s board recently was to declare that two non-performing channels of national broadcaster Doordarshan would be shut down some time soon. Well before that a new edutainment channel with a commitment to public service broadcasting to cater to the needs of children, health, music, dance and fine arts is being launched. DD Bharati is scheduled to go on air from Republic Day, 26 January, 2002.

DD Bharati will be a 24-hour channel available on PAS-10 on transponder no C-19 and C-23, both in analog and digital mode.

The channel will feature four hours of health programmes from 6 am, followed by six hours of children‘s programmes from 2 pm. The channel will also have four hours of programmes on music, dance, fine arts from 8 pm.

Doordarshan has broken up DD Bharati‘s programming into three segments. The morning segment will focus on meditation, yoga, and alternative systems of medicine, discussions with experts, documentary features on health related issues, and health news. It may also incorporate a one-hour segment of live phone-ins on health issues daily, officials say.

The second segment, which will focus on children aged between four and 18 years, will telecast cartoon films, wild life films, children‘s serials, counseling and sports, talent hunts, ‘antakshari‘ programmes and magic shows. A unique feature would be a news bulletin ‘by children for children‘. Now didn‘t we hear the same one from southern animation major Pentamedia at the launch of its kids‘ channel Splash?

The third segment will feature music, dance, fine arts, Indian classic music, countdown shows, event based programmes and travel shows. Folk, devotional and tribal music will also feature in this segment.

Purportedly a showcase of Indian culture, DD Bharati will focus on presenting the best of the country‘s literature through telefilms and serials. There will be documentaries on Gyanpeeth and Sahitya Akademi award winners too.

Prasar Bharati has now invited private producers to make programmes under the sponsored category for DD Bharati‘s prime time (8 to 10.30 pm) as well as the non-prime time slots.

The deadline for submitting programme proposals to DD is 5 pm on 9 November.

The cricket scam seems to have be relegated to the history books as India‘s passion for the game has resurfaced and how. Over 18.8 million viewers tuned in to Star Sports to watch the first India Vs South Africa one-day match held at Johannesburg on 5 October, according to figures released by ESPN Star Sports.

The India Vs South Africa match was the top rated programme of the day, and all other popular general entertainment soaps and programmes had to take a back seat this time, a company release says.

According to market research agency ORG MARG‘s Intam data, the TVRs reached 15 for all male adults 15+ ABC all India (24 markets) during the prime television viewing time between 9 pm and 10 pm, while TVRs for all female adults was close to 12. The cumulative reach of Star Sports channel was as high as 30 per cent during a single day for the duration of the match.

Managing director of ESPN Software India, Manu Sawhney, says: "The phenomenal ratings for India-South Africa cricket at prime time television prove that live cricket featuring India offers the sponsors the best value and an opportunity to reach the millions of satellite television homes across the country. Cricket is a religion in India and the passion for the game cricket cuts across all audience demographics."

Coca-Cola is the presenting sponsor of the series while Samsung, BPL, Madura Garments, LG, Bajaj Auto, Asian Paints and Indian Rayon are the associate sponsors with over 50 brands being advertised on the series. The series has also received a tremendous support from advertisers with feature programmes such as Contests, Spectacular Catches, Cricket Ratings, Action Replays, Super 6‘s, Master blaster.

Will the "saas bahu" sagas be sent for a six this Diwali? Well that would be something, wouldn‘t it?