The management, however, is believed to be extremely gung-ho on the weekly and is going to keep it going for at least another couple of years even if it means a bloodied bottomline.

However, Business India is not sitting quiet. The BusinessWorld success seems to have jolted the sleeping market leader awake. It has started a subscription push. It is touting a Zen, 14 Zenith PCs, 30 Philips 3000W PMPO music systems, 50 Philips Nino 200 palmtops and 700 Business India Planners as lures to convert fence-sitters into subscribers.

Those who sign up for the drive called `The Big Bonanza Offer' will get two issues of the magazine free. They can cancel their subscription within 28days of receiving their first free issue should they choose. The freebies are to be posted six to eight weeks after the start of the subscription period. The offer closes on September 30.

Will it work? It's quite likely to attract a few thousand subscribers. But more important will be the reaction of the other player in the business magazine game: Business Today.

Free talk-time services

Wannabe rid of fat cellphone talk-time bills? Take the cue from the three Chinese cities of Beijing, Guangzhou and Shanghai. Recently, Chinese telecom officials agreed to allow cellphone companies to carry advertisements on their cellular networks.

Cellphone users will have to listen to the ads. The greater the number of ads they agree to listen to, the lower their telephone bill. The bill can be zero should a subscriber agree to the maximum ads possible. Advertisers are expected to pick up the check for subscribers.

The service is being billed as a free-talk phone service and is slated to commence next month.Subscribers will have to sign up for it, giving details about themselves so that the cellphone companies and advertisers will be in a position to send out targeted advertising. Wonder if the Department of Telecommunications in India would agree to such a proposal for the Indian market? And would subscribers be open to the service?

Serial clutter

It's becoming increasingly difficult to stand out in the clutter that is satellite television in India today. And getting serial launches noticed is becoming even more impossible. Hence, Zee TV decided to organise a major event in Mumbai last week to launch six serials at one go rather than host separate launches for each of them.

The channel created a multiplex with six booths in the Leela, each hosting a serial. Each of the booths was fabricated in the fashion of a mini-theatre. The entire star cast, director and producer of each serial was at hand to answer queries from journos and the high-brow theatre, television, film and celebrity crowd. Eachserial had its episode rerun every half hour to give everyone a chance to view it. A bell announced every showing. Pop corn, candy floss, and soft drinks and even liquor flowed freely. The ambience was of celebration though it was a little crowded and attendees wished for more space.

It was almost as if the network was celebrating freedom from the strangulating grip of cricket programming that Indian viewers were caught in for the past couple of months. In fact, not just Zee TV, even STAR TV has launched a clutch of new shows on STAR Plus. The aim is to obviously build up the programmes and cash in on advertising when they manage to attract audiences by the time the festival season starts.

Meanwhile, Zee Network is sparing no efforts to make its parties snob events where only the creme de la creme are invited. "The idea is to build a Zee TV family," says Zee Network vice-president (communications) Ranjan Bakshi. "And make every Zee event a social and cultural necessity."

The writer is the editor ofThe Indian Cab&Sat Reporter. Feel free to e-mail with your comments to television@vsnl.com or television@hotmail.com