We already have two English movie channels, TNT and Star Movies. Both have got sufficient viewers. One is a paid for service, the other free-to-air but threatening to go pay. And many more are threatening or have been making attempts to make a debut: HBO and Cinemax, and even Sky Movies.

Subscription revenues combined with advertising revenues will take the channel far. Not to forget Sony's deep pockets.

Is there enough place in the market? Sony Entertainment Television (SET) chief executive Kunal Dasgupta, whose firm is distributing AXN, believes there is. "Movies are something that will always do well," he says.

Nevertheless, he has not set very ambitious targets. He expects a paid subscriber base of 300,000 homes witha total penetration of 2.5 million Indian homes at launch, which is at present taking place in a phased manner.

Cable operators are paying subscription fees ranging from Rs 2.50 to Rs 5 per subscriber depending on if they are paying for the decoder box to receive the encrypted AXN signal or not. The channel is slated to air more movies and less series in India as compared to Asia as research showed that Indians preferred cinema.

New kids on the communications block

Two young professionals - Amitabh Saksena and Binita Bodani - have got together to set up a venture in the rapidly growing communications business. The two were working with the Mumbai branch of communications outfit, IPAN.

Within a matter of a month, the duo's firm, ActiMedia, has signed on five clients: Pizza Hut's Mumbai franchisee, Sky Entertainment, Studio Sinnita (a fashion house) and a project with an MNC.

"We thought it was about time we did something on our own," says Saksena, who's all of 29 years old but has more thanhalf-a-dozen years experience in communications. "Thus was born ActiMedia - our firm," adds Bodani who is in her early twenties.

The two are hungry to sign on a broadcasting or media client. "Between us we've managed clients such as National Geographic, NBC, CNBC, MTV, Channel V and Rediff-on-the-net," says Bodani. "We hope to add one to our portfolio as soon as possible."

According to Saksena, communications is not about column centimetres of coverage in newspapers, it's about positioning a communications message rightly in the targeted audience's mind.

The duo seem to have some go as they managed to beat back solidly entrenched firms such as Good Relations, Perfect Relations and O&M PR in the Sky Entertainment pitch.

Brand management meet from November 5

Hordes of consumers and marketers are going to make a beeline to Mumbai's Nehru Centre between November 5 and November 8 for what is being billed as the largest attempt in brand management in India. "To be precise I expect close to 300,000visitors," says RL Bhatia, founder of the Centre for Change Management, who is organising The International Brand Summit (IBS) at the venue.

The IBS has two parts: the first is a seminar and the second, the exhibition housing 191 stalls from 120 companies. At the seminar, some big names like Bal Palekar, Rajeev Agarwal, Sorab Mistry, Alan Mcgilvary, Ishan Raina, Jagdeep Kapoor, Raj Nair, Kabir Mulchandani, Nobi Gupta, Ravi Kant, Bharat Bala, Vijay Crishna, N Venkat, Ram Poddar, Stephen Young and Arvind Sharma, have been lined up to touch on various aspects of brands and their relevance in an-open-to-global competition Indian market.

Companies such as Philips, Marico, P&G, Shoppers' Stop, Magna Publishing, Pond's, Society teas are expected to sample their products and conduct research among visitors at the exhibition. A special area has been set aside which will be housing brands targeted at childrn. "A huge part of India is young and they are important consumers," says Bhatia. "Hence the separatearea."

Entry to the exhibition is free, but the seminar fee is Rs 3,500. Citibank card holders can avail of a discount of Rs 1,000 if they register before 29 October.

Zee to unveil film-based magazine

It's premiered finally. Zee Premiere, from the Zee Network, is about to hit newsstands. Priced at Rs 50, the magazine is being positioned as a publication that will put cinema first.

According to editor-in-chief Rauf Ahmed, existing film publications are either focusing on personalities through profiles and interviews or digging out dirt about film stars personal lives.

"Our effort will be different and the magazine's real character will emerge over the next few months," says Ahmed who's got oodles of experience with film and general publications.

The editorial content in the monthly will revolve around films and music. "Zee Premiere's presentation, the high pictorial content and the information we provided will immediately make us stand out from the rest of the pack. The paperwe are using is high quality art paper similar to Verve magazine" says Ahmed. What will also make the magazine different is a 16-page pullout devoted to a star with details about his career, and the like.

The magazine has a launch print run of 25,000 and it is being distributed in the metros and larger towns. The first issue has 228 pages with 55 of them being ads.

"We had to turn away seven ads as we didn't have any space left," says Ahmed. He adds that the effort will be to keep the editorial-to-ad content at 75:25. Ahmed says he believes in keeping the editorial team young, mainly because they come in with bright ideas and open minds. But writers such as V Gangadharan, Shobha De and Deepa Gehlot are also going to contribute to the magazine.

Zee Premiere, however, is not the first effort by Zee to foray into the print media. Galaxzee, a lifestyle magazine it launched in the UK folded up soon after. Then it has also been churning out its entertainment guide for sometime.

With formerTimes veterans Vijay Jindal and Rauf Ahmed at the helm and the promotional power of the TV channel (a weekly newsmagazine is also planned for Zee TV) behind them, Zee Premiere should make it big at the box office.

The writer can be reached at wanvari@giasbm01.vsnl.net.in or television@hotmail.com. Feel free to email with your comments.