NEW DELHI: With the clock ticking towards the 31 March 2003 termination of the NDTV-Star India alliance, Rupert Murdoch's company is making all the arrangements for the smooth transition to the new Star News feed. 

As part of this process, Star has applied to the government for permission to use international gateway Videsh Sanchar Nigam Ltd (VSNL) for port to port uplinking.

Currently the arrangement is that NDTV sends the signal through VSNL to Hong Kong, from where it is uplinked onto the Asiasat satellite. 

Star India officials however, offered no comments, when asked about the latest developments. 

Though Star, surprisingly, has not applied for a direct uplink licence, in 1997, Newscorp boss Rupert Murdoch did consider using Bangalore as an uplink station.

Watch this space for a detailed report to follow.