Dispute between Zee and DEN

If you are not getting some of your favorite channels, then you should talk to your cable operator, and ask him to provide these channels to you. These are channels within the Zee TV bouquet.

---------------------------------
FOR URGENT RELEASE

Zee Turner gets aggressive against the TV 18 owned cable subsidiary DEN: Sends notice to deactivate services. As a result, the telecast of 35 superhit channels are expected to go off air in over 32 % of Delhi and close to 20% of Mumbai

The channels include Zee TV, Zee Cinema, HBO, Cartoon Network, Zee Café and Zee Studio, CNN, Warner Brothers, Zee Café, Pogo, Ten Sports and many more.

29 Aug, New Delhi : Coveted channels like Zee TV, Cartoon Network, Pogo, HBO, Ten Sports, Zee Café ,Zee Studio and many more might go off air in parts of Delhi and Mumbai on account of the ongoing dispute between Zee Turner and TV 18 Group owned cable subsidiary DEN.

DEN not just owes outstanding payable to Zee Turner running into crores but also has not signed the agreement to avail the services/ feed of 35 channels distributed by Zee Turner for the year 2009-10.

Zee Turner, for past few months, has several attempts through series of negotiations to close the issue. However, failing to obtain any co-operation from DEN, Zee Turner is now contemplating deactivation of its bouquet of 35 channels on this operator’s network by 17th September, 2009.

About Zee-Turner

Zee Turner Ltd. is a joint venture between two renowned media giants - Essel group and Turner International. The company was incorporated in February 2002 with an objective to manage the distribution & trade marketing for pay channels. It offers this grand combination of Zee, Turner and third party channel bouquet to the customers in Indian sub-continent and also to some of the neighboring countries like Nepal and Bhutan.

Presently, Zee Turner Limited brings you the largest network of 35 channels, showing programmes in the widest range of 12 genres. From general entertainment, sports, drama, news & current affairs, movies, to reality shows, talent hunts, kid's entertainment and all kind of music, providing you the endless & unmatched variety of entertainment. Some of the most popular and best of the channels being offered by the broadcaster include Zee TV, Zee Cinema, Cartoon Network, Pogo, HBO, Zee Studio, Zee Marathi, Zee Bangla, Zee Cafe, Zee News, Zee Business etc

What are viewers missing on?

1. Delhi to miss on their very own new show ‘ 12/24 Karol Bagh’ which is to premiere from 31st Ausust. Can’t live without serials on Zee TV- Sa Re Ga Ma PA LIL champs, Agle janam Mohe Bitiya Hi Kijo, Aap Ki Antara, Chhoti Bahu and Jhaansi Ki Rani

2. Compaq Cup Tri Series on Ten Sports to be telecasted from 8- 14th Sept.

3. Blockbuster movies on Zee Cinema , HBO, Zee Studio and WB

4. Cartoon network and POGO for children

5. Zee Marathi, Zee News, Zee Business, Zee Café, and many more channels

India TV: A news channel with a difference

In office, the discussion around the lunch table typically is about what's the next news on India TV (or what the last interesting news was). India currently has a large number of news channels, and when some major event takes place, all the channels concentrate on that. So, for example, when the blasts happened in UP, this was covered on all the channels, and was only replaced when Maninder Singh was caught with cocaine, and there was the sight of each channel trying to find their own set of people to interview, including people on the sight, former cricketers, and so on. The one glorious exception to this entire new coverage was the news on India TV.
India TV seems to have a found a niche of its own. It tries to cover sensational news, leaving behind the likes of Star News and Aaj Tak. So, for example, India TV was the first channel to investigate and find the news about an illicit sex racket running on the premier Rajdhani trains, it periodically covers tales of haunted places, about other sex rackets running with plenty of description (in fact, on a lighter note, a friend of mine got a blasting from his wife for watching such a sleazy channel when she occassioned to see some of the coverage, but he managed to wriggle out of this situation by explaining it as a national TV channel). At another time, the channel was trying to run a story about a ichadari (snake that can change shape and become a human being as well) snake as well. Similarly, late at night, they have a discussion where they get doctors and advisors and get people to phone in and talk about their sex related problems.
So I normally do not have much of a tolerance for such kind of news, but this seemed interesting enough that I thought that I would try it out. Today afternoon, I switched to India TV, and found them running an exclusive on a snake couple writhing together in the water somewhere in Madhya Pradesh. This was running for around the 3-4 minutes that I was watching the channel, and this seemed fairly interesting :-). In the night, I ran into something that seemed far more stable, this was Rajat Sharma interviewing Rakhi Sawant on his adalat program.
Overall, the more I thought about it, the makers of India TV seem to be making a hit out of the attempts to make it a niche channel, abandoning too much serious news. After all, if people know about it as a distinctive channel out of the so many news channel out there, and talk about it to each other, then it is a success. And people need a break from serious disaster news.
Maybe I will end up watching it more often, we all need a break from serious stuff going all around us.