Promoter Siddharth Srivastava had grandiose plans of launching a bouquet of three to four channels when he did not have the wherewithal. Result: On half a dozen or so instances the channel was switched off when satellite operators were not paid their dues. Despite its on-the-air off-the-air tendency, ATN managed to attract audiences with a simple menu consisting of back-to-back Hindi music.

It's not easy to capture eyeballs, especially when several other rivals have similar ambitions. So it had got its programming formula right. In fact, it was probably amongst the top four channels in the country. Today, in the music channel category alone there are ETN, Music Asia, MTV, Channel V, Vatsa Music (is it still on?), MCM and of course the general entertainment channelswhich devote more than two hours to trailers and music. The competition therefore is more intense than ever before. But this writer believes that if the quartet backing ETN, Jagjit Singh Kohli, Yogesh Radhakrishnan, Yogesh Shah and film financier Jhamu Sughand continue to pump in enough money in a sustained manner, it will retain the popularity it had with Indian television audiences as ATN.

Running a music channel is not as expensive as running a general entertainment channel. Music companies and film makers are more than happy to hand over Hi-band or Beta tapes packed with videos or trailers. Expenses that music channels have to incur therefore are people overheads, events and promotions (even these find sponsors), transponder rentals, office space in various cities to reach out to the small potential advertiser (this can be achieved by appointing good local ad reps), travel and studio-based veejay recordings.

But a very sharp eye has to be kept on reining in even these costs. Music channels need aroundthree to four hours of original programmes each week, whereas general entertainment channels need at least five to seven times that to satisfy audiences. The ETN management has said that it is putting aside Rs 15 crore for new programming on ETN. Now all that they have to work on is getting their distribution and cable operator relationship management and advertising sales acts together. If they manage to do that well, ETN might well be here for a long time despite the competition.

Censoring PTV

Many media columnists have come out strongly against Pramod Mahajan's decision to issue a ban on Pakistan TV. They have said that in a democracy one needs plurality of views and that Mahajan should improve DD's infrastructure and programming before using censorship as a whip to control people's viewing habits.

To those columnists this writer has only one question: Is it possible to improve DD's infrastructure overnight? Especially considering the rather messy way its transmitters have sprung up over theyears with some HPTs and LPTs in areas where they serve not much of a purpose. The need of the hour is to curb misinformation and Pakistan has been very vociferous in the presentation of its viewpoint on PTV, the state-owned broadcster, which has no strong rivals, apart from Indian satellite channels.

Writers have also argued that Indians in the border areas can still catch the PTV terrestrial signal on their television, so the ban will not work fully. True. But these viewers were and will always be in a position to watch PTV unless the Indian government chooses to jam the signal. It is the rest of the country that has been cut off from the misinformation, which is a major achievement.

Not that we are totally isolated from the Pakistani viewpoint: Channels such as CNN and BBC are ensuring that. Hence, Mahajan's decision to ban PTV is acceptable. Cable operators seemed to have responded by heeding it. Whether it the threat of facing arrest and the fines or whether it is pure nationalistic fervour which hasincentivised them to switch off PTV only they know. The I&B ministry should get cracking on finetuning the DD infrastructure and programming. So that next time (if there is a next time), it's not the government which has to reject PTV's propaganda, it should be left to viewers.

(The writer is the editor of The Indian Cab&Sat Reporter. Feel free to email with your comments to television@vsnl.com or television@hotmail.com)