The stage is set for the Enter Media 2001 conference to be held in Mumbai on 7 and 8 August.

The seminar for the media and entertainment sector organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) will be the culmination of an online interactive initiative that began at the end of June whose aim it was to identify the key issues which the industry needed to address.

According to the chairman of the task force set up to organise the conference, Biren Ghose, CEO of UTV Interactive, the conference‘s principal aim is to identify two or three key issues that have a realistic chance of being addressed if proper thought and planning is put into the effort. It will be an issues workshop which amalgamates a public as well as industry perspective.

At the conclusion of the conference a report will be presented which will set a six to 12 month time frame to resolve the issues identified. Towards this end the state and central government will be petitioned to participate in the resolutions made at the seminar. inputs from other institutions as well as efforts from within the industry will all be utilised to work towards getting definitive results, Ghose says. He gives the example of how the music industry managed to set aside its internal differences in setting up the Indian Music Initiative (IMI) against piracy.

To delienate the key issues, message boards on a Enter Media 2001/CII website will be specially created. These message boards - to be gathered from industry executives and the public at large - will represent a "market snapshot" across each of the industry verticals. The idea is to define constraints and highlight possible solutions, according to the chairman of the task force set up to organise the conference, Biren Ghose, CEO of UTV Interactive.

Others on the taskforce include Shyam Benegal (Films), Pritish Nandy (CEO Pritish Nandy Communication), Abhik Mitra (Music), Sumantra Dutta (Star India Ltd, Radio), Vijay Mukhi (Technology), Pallavi Jha (CII Chairperson - Maharashtra), Rana Kapoor / Vijay Jain (Banking), Rajesh Jog (Venture Capital) and SK Chakraborty (Industrial Development Bank of India). The venue of the conference is the ITC Grand Maratha Sheraton in Mumbai‘s western suburb of Andheri.

Star India‘s new programming strategy for Friday nights has hit the right notes from Day 1 itself, as per information provided by the company.

Market research agency AC Nielsen‘s TAM data for the first day of their screening on Friday 27 July, saw STAR Plus launch 3 new shows with a bang. The TRP ratings of the three shows, Kya Masti Kya Dhuum, hosted by Sonali Bendre, Khullja Sim Sim, hosted by Aman Verma and the horror show, Ssshhhh?Koi Hai?, have been very positive, according to a company release.

Market research agency AC Nielsen‘s TAM data show all three shows have made an immediate impact with Kya Masti Kya Dhuum opening its account at 7.23 TVRs, Khullja Sim Sim at 9.80 TVRs and Ssshhhh?Koi Hai? at 5.85 TVRs.

The Tam data is for nine cities - Mumbai, Delhi, Calcutta, Chennai, Bangalore, Kochi, Ahmedabad, Hyderabad and Kanpur.

The release draws attention to the fact that the Sony Entertainment gameshow Jeeto Chappad Phaad Ke‘s special episode, despite filmstar Urmilla Matondkar in the hot seat, failed to garner a decent viewership. According to the release, JCPK‘s ratings the same night is 1.9 at 78.

Star has finally taken a full-fledged leap into the dotcom pool. Confirming its confidence in the Internet space, Star India today hoicked its stake in the much-hyped portal indya.com to "almost 100 per cent."

A joint release from Star and indya.com states that the Rupert Murdoch-promoted firm has bought the entire shareholding of founder and Microland chairman Pradeep Kar, and other investors. Kar had established indya.com in April 2000.

The market was abuzz for long that Star would gobble up indya.com in toto but its management had consistently pooh-poohed that possibility. Star had earlier paid out $ 50 million for a 37 per cent stake in the portal but that was before the worldwide dotcom meltdown. No further details were available on how much Star paid to buy out Kar and associates, but official sources say current valuations are significantly lower. Some estimates put the figure at about $25 million.

Gary Walrath, executive vice-president, Star Group Ltd, has been appointed chairman of indya.com while CEO Sunil Lulla will continue to head the dotcom, assisted by Indya‘s management team, says the company release.

The website is planned to become the online destination for all of Star‘s India properties on its TV channels today and in future. Already, Star Plus, Star Movies, Star World and Channel [V] have been integrated into indya.com and will soon be joined by the group‘s other channels in the coming months.

The press release says benefits will also accrue to indya.com. "The alignment will give consumers and users an opportunity to interact more with Star on the internet and see more of indya.com on television," it states.

Recently the website launched interactive applications and multimedia content built around some of Star‘s popular programmes like Kaun Banega Crorepati, Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi, Kaahin Kissii Roz, Kahani Ghar Ghar Ki, Ji Mantriji (all on Star Plus), Friends, X-Files, Ally McBeal and Baywatch (on Star World).