The channel is also mulling over starting a duel feed for movies dubbed in regional languages.

Speaking to The Financial Express, AXN's chief executive officer James M Buklarewicz said efforts are being stepped up to reach out to smaller cities in the country. To increase awareness about the channel among Indian viewers, it plans to hold a series of contents and shows in 13 cities across the country in the next few months.

The programming, targeted at audience in the age group of 18 and 35 years, will include a mix of series, movies, sports, adventure and animation. Buklarewsicz did not rule out airing Hindi action movies at a latter date. "In India, classic action movies are highlysuccessful," he added. A Indian version of "Who dares Win" is in the offing.

The channel has already garnered a viewership of around 10 million households in the country, said Buklarewicz. This is almost half of AXN worldwide subscriber base of 22 million. In India, AXN is distributed by Sony Entertainment Television.

The channel also plans to step up marketing efforts in the country, especially targeting smaller cities, said AXN India general manager Achal Mehra. "At present, 52 per cent of our prime-time inventory has already been sold to Indian advertisers," he said.

The channel had launched the India-specific feed in April this year. "We are going to offer a lot of original programmes made specifically for the Indian market in the year 2000," said Mehra. He expects the channel's advertising revenue to pick up substantially in the coming year. He said AXN expects to be cash flow positive by 2003 and break even thereafter. India operations are expected to break even around 2002-3.

AXN will soonstart beaming in China and the channel is expected to add another 17 million households to its viewership, said officials.

Sony set to launch movie channel

Sony Entertainment Television is gearing up to launch an event-based channel which would air movies, live events and shows, said officials of Sony Entertainment Television. The company is in the process of putting in place the programming for the proposed channel and would launch it on a priority-basis, said an executive.

"The new channel will take precedence over the sports channel," officials added. Apart from a staple diet of movies, the new channel may feature concerts and exclusive shows including airing of sporting events.

Officials were not willing to commit on a time frame for the launch. "However, work for the launch is going on a priority-basis," said officials.