Modi Entertainment Network (MEN) Television was in the process of working out a plan to increase ad sales for the French channel Fashion TV CEO Rajan Kaaicker said, a day after being served a legal notice by B4U Television Network chief distribution officer Debashish De for breach of contract over a distribution and marketing agreement the two parties had signed.

B4U‘s contract with Fashion TV runs till 2005 and the deal signed between FTV and MEN on 9 August was illegal, De has said therefore the notice. Henceforth, both B4U Entertainment (soon to be B4U movies) and B4U Music would be handled by the network itself, De said.

Putting forth MEN‘s position in the matter, Kaaicker said FTV had terminated its agreement with B4U over two months previously and the approach for a deal had been initiated by FTV. MEN was just one among a number of major players it had approached for a tie-up, Kaaicker While admitting that he had received a legal notice from B4U he said MEN had in no way violated any of the terms of its contract with the network and added that his lawyers would be filing a suitable response in due course. Kaaicker said that in fact it was B4U that was in breach of contract because MEN had honoured its part of the bargain in full and would continue to do so.

On what the agreement with FTV entailed, Kaaicker said Men‘s brief was not only to distribute the channel but also to work out ways to increase ad revenues (virtually non-existant at this juncture). As to what were the initiatives that were being introduced to achieve this, Kaaicker could provide no details except to say that over the next quarter the results would be seen. Reacting to reports that the fashion channel was in the process of going pay, Kaaicker said it was not an option at all at this point. The focus at present was to promote the channel and increase ad revenues, he added.

US-based Adobe Systems Incorporated today announced the India launch of Adobe After Effects 5.0, a new version of the company‘s motion graphics and visual effects software.

Adobe After Effects 5.0 offers more than 100 new features and productivity enhancements that enable creative professionals to generate compelling content for film, video, multimedia and the Web, according to a company release.

Commenting on the launch of After Effects 5.0, Adobe Systems India Pvt Ltd business development manager Sandeep Mehrotra said: "India represents an escalating demand among professionals for a comprehensive video editing software for special effects in movies, television channels and the Internet."

"The new version of After Effects is a complete tool set for 2-D and 3-D compositing, animation, special effects for film, video, multimedia, and the Web and integrates well with Photoshop, Premiere and Illustrator. We look forward to the success of After Effects 5.0 in India."

Adobe After Effects 5.0 offers a superior implementation of tools that professionals demand in a leading compositing software package. The new version includes a true 3D compositing environment. In addition, new vector paint tools and 16-bit color support expand the Production Bundle version.

The combination of new features along with numerous productivity enhancements will help visual effects artists and motion graphics designers explore their creative ideas and execute them with precise control, the release states.

New Features in Adobe After Effects 5.0 include a) Parenting, which allows users to animate layers hierarchically; b) Expressions, which create live relationships between layer properties; c) Masking enhancements to draw masks in the Comp window, d) Expand masks and add Motion Blur to masks; d) Macromedia? Flash? (SWF) output which allow users to create vector animations for Web sites.

Adobe After Effects 5.0 software is available in two versions. The standard version provides the core 2D and 3D compositing and effects tools that motion graphics professionals and Web designers need. The production bundle version is designed for visual effects artists and motion graphics designers who need all of the tools in the standard version, plus additional keying, motion control and distortion tools, audio effects, 3D channel effects, 16-bit per channel color, vector paint tools, and support for network rendering. The standard version has a market price of Rs 33,500 and the production bundle is available at RS 77,500.

ESPN Star Sports yesterday introduced an Asian version of the popular sports news show Sportscenter.

SportsCenter will be Asia‘s first live half-hour sports news programme which will provide millions of television viewers with a crisp and incisive update of the latest happenings from international and regional sporting events, a company release states.

SportsCenter will be broadcast in English to viewers in Southeast Asia via ESPN Asia. A Mandarin language version will be broadcast on ESPN China, covering North Asia (China and Chinese Taipei).

ESS introduced a Hindi version of SportsCenter to viewers in India in April this year. Since its inception four months ago, SportsCenter Hindi has attracted 24 per cent of the cable viewing population, the release says.

Launched in 1979 in the US, SportsCenter is so popular that it is watched by more than 11 million people daily. Currently SportsCenter (International version) is watched by more than 150 million households outside the US on 20 international networks, the release says.

The Asian version will be following the US programme‘s original format of news, feature stories, analysis, clippings and guest commentators. ESS‘ managing director Rik Dovey said: "SportsCenter is a habit for millions of diehard sports fans across the world. With the introduction of a SportsCenter tailored to the viewing habits and tastes of our Asian audience, we will create millions more fans for this landmark show."

He also stated that that this initiative was a big step for the company as developing such a comprehensive news bureau was a major investment. The resources required to put out live news are considerable. And doing so in multiple languages only intensifies the effort required. In fact, with the introduction of the English and Mandarin services to Asia, ESPN STAR Sports has tripled its output of live sports news programming.

He further went on to explain that: "ESPN Star Sports has set itself the target of being Asia‘s complete sports provider and the benchmark by which all other networks measure themselves. To achieve this ESPN must continue to innovate and to provide viewers with what they want to watch, when they want to watch it, and in a format that is relevant to them."

SportsCenter will be aired daily from Monday to Friday. Bulletins will be telecast Live at 8 PM with a repeat at around 11:30 PM, then at 2:30 am , with one more repeat thereafter.

ESS‘own 60,000 sq. ft production facility in Singapore will be producing SportsCenter. It will include sports news clippings from ESPN SportsCenter, SNTV (Sports News Television), - a leading provider of sports news clippings - and Sky Sports. SportsCenter will also include cricket clippings from ESS‘ portfolio of sporting rights - including the English Premier League, Formula One and the major tennis and golf events throughout the year.

For each live program broadcast of SportsCenter, ESS utilises a team of 40 veteran news and sports producers, presenters, technical/production assistants, editors and reporting crewreporters. The news team brings to Asia a wealth of knowledge and experience from the international and regional sports television scene sourced from all over the world, including ESPN‘s SportsCenter, TWI, BBC, ITV, New Delhi Television, Hong Kong‘s TVB, Australia‘s Channel 9 Network, TV South Africa and Australian Broadcasting Corporation.