Sony Entertainment Television has finally decided to pull the plug on its high profile gameshow Jeeto Chappar Phaad Ke, industry sources indicate. The last of the series, episode number 90, was canned recently, and the show will be going off air by end-September, the sources say.

Rekha Nigam, senior vice-president - programming and production, SET, however denies that JCPK, hosted by filmstar Govinda, is coming to an end any time soon. "We have some great episodes lined up and there is no question of the show going off air just yet," Nigam stresses, adding that, as with all programming on the channel, there is a continuous review process going on. Nigam said the shows were being recorded keeping in mind Govinda‘s busy schedule. "We have enough episodes in the can to see us through for the near term," Nigam adds.

Speculation that JCPK‘s days are numbered has been doing the rounds for a while now and has increased since it went from a thrice a week airing to a twice-a-week show from 2 June. It now airs on Fridays and Sundays with the Saturday slot being given over to movies.

As to the possible reasons for JCPK‘s imminent demise there are many. Falling TRPs is an obvious one. Add the cost factor - an estimated average cost of Rs 4 million per episode - and the returns in terms of ad revenues are just not there. While the same could be said to some extent about Star India‘s Amitabh Bachchan-hosted gameshow Kaun Banega Crorepati vis-୶is TRPs (4.6 as per market research agency ORG Marg‘s Intam data for the week ending 1 July), the difference is in the profile KBC enjoys. KBC has helped lift all the shows which have been worked around it but JCPK was never anywhere close to becoming Sony‘s channel driver.

So what next from the SET stable? All indications are that another possibly even bigger blockbuster show is on the anvil. When and what form it takes is the question.

Keeping in line with its runaway success in The Indian Telly Awards 2001, Star has pocketed 24 awards - seven gold, 13 silvers and seven bronze - at this years‘ PROMAX and Broadcast Designers‘ Association (BDA) Awards in Miami in the US.
Nearly 9,000 entries from across the globe vied for top promotion, marketing and design glories from more than 100 judges at the annual awards. The majority of the award-winning works were from Channel [V].

"These awards speak of the breadth and depth of our dedicated on-air and off-air creative teams. They continue to set the standards for the Asian television industry. We are proud of their achievements," Bruce Churchill, president and chief operating officer of STAR said in the company release.

PROMAX and BDA are international associations of broadcast design and marketing professionals. They offer the world‘s premier educational conferences for promotions, marketing and design executives in electronic media. The two organisations are non-profit associations owned by their members.

PROMAX award winners

BDA award winners

News Corp company, NDS Group, a provider of conditional access systems and interactive applications for digital TV, has hired former Star India internet operations CEO, Lalit Ahuja, as Managing Director NDS India, to head up its new research and development center based in Bangalore.
Ahuja has more than 20 years of engineering software and commercial experience and his charge will be focusing on developing interactive TV applications and broadband technologies in conjunction with NDS R & D centers in Israel, China and the UK. He will also have to develop the India operations as a global hub for NDS R&D. In addition he will also develop markets for NDS‘s interactive applications, working closely with NDS sales and marketing executives to develop and implement the strategic business initiatives for expanding regional markets.

Ahuja will report to Dr Jasjit Saini, Vice President, Consumer Devices, NDS Group plc. Says Saini: "As NDS continues to drive the development and adoption of interactive television across the world it is critical that it maintains its lead in the field of R & D. Lalit Ahuja‘s tremendous experience in software development and his extensive business acumen makes him an ideal executive to help us maintain this lead."

Ahuja has worked as Country Head (India), president and managing director of LG Soft India. Prior to that he was with software firm Datamatics. He started his career in the Indian Navy retiring as a Lieutenant Commander.