What are AXN's plans now, after completing two years in India?
In the first year of operations, we were concentrating on distribution rights. In the second year, our focus was on market research, on what the viewers wanted. From last year, we began an annual viewers tracking survey. From that survey, we found that movies and serials were the most popular on AXN. So they continue to be our focus area.'' Now, AXN's focus is also on action adventure in sports and reality programming. Reality programming, which is based on real life adventure such as `Heart of Courage', is a strong point of the channel. We want AXN to evolve as a brand, which our viewers can touch and feel. In that direction, we are also working on building an India-specific Website, with a lot of programming information, interactive elements and on-ground events.

So, will your focus be on the channel or on the Website?
On both. They'll complement each other.

In the two years that AXN has been in existence in India, what has been the total investment like? And how much revenues have you generated?
I look after three segments: Taiwan, Rest of Asia and India. And I can't indicate a figure for just India. I can only say that AXN has exceeded its target for distribution of the channel, its ratings and ad sale. We have significantly increased our marketing budget too. There has been a 100 per cent increase in the marketing budget from 1999. In terms of revenue generation, we're much ahead of our target.

Has AXN been affected by the entry of HBO in India?
No. Since AXN is not a movie channel alone, neither HBO nor STAR Movies is a direct competition for us. Another reason for AXN doing well despite other channels coming up is that AXN breaks the linguistic barrier. It is seen in 12.4 million homes across 1,500 towns in India. The content of the channel is so visual that in spite of being a pay channel, it has a competitive advantage over other channels.

In terms of ad revenues, has AXN suffered because of HBO's entry?
No. AXN's ad revenues have consistently increased over the years. Now we even have dedicated sponsors for thematic properties, such as `horror' and `action'. We have had 40 advertisers for the month of August and September alone. And since the beginning of the channel, we've had 70 advertisers. In a significant move, AXN advertisers are now coming with annual commitments.

What is the rating for the AXN channel?
In the 10 p.m. to 12 p.m. slot, AXN is rated as the number one channel. To give an example, in August the channel got a TRP of 1.64 when it showed `Annaconda'. That was the highest rating for any English movie channel.

Who's your target audience?
We assumed that our target audience was a male aged 18-35 years. But we were pleasantly surprised to find that we have a lot of women among our audience as well. In fact, we define our target audience psychographically. If you have an attitude of a 25 something, the channel is for you, even if you're over 50.

What is the latest initiative from AXN?
AXN has just instituted an award for the `Action Cricketer of the Year'. The award is meant to recognise the excellence in domestic cricket. Whoever has played international level cricket is not eligible for the award. The idea of the award is to nurture young talent, whereby the winner gets Rs 4 lakh in prize money and four runners-up get Rs 1 lakh each. The objective behind instituting this award is that way before the 2003 World Cup, India should be able to spot all-round talent in the game. The rating system that is in place for this award is on par with international standards. For now, former cricketer Sandeep Patil is in the jury.

What does AXN have to do with cricket?
It's not cricket that we are identifying ourselves with. The operative word is `action cricketer'. Anything to do with action or adventure establishes the AXN personality. Recently, we had sponsored two youngsters for the BMX Bicycle Competition. But, that doesn't mean that we have anything to do with BMX or bicycles. Even in the case of BMX Bicycle Competition, we are interested in the energetic profile of the competition, which goes with the AXN image.