I haven't given up on DTH, says broadband-minded Murdoch

I haven't given up on DTH, says broadband-minded Murdoch
KAVEREE BAMZAI

NEW DELHI, MARCH 15: The day began at 6.30 a.m. when he flew into Delhi on his Gulfstream 4 and it ended with Rupert Murdoch flying out to catch five hours of shut-eye on his way to pick up wife Wendy Deng -- who was kept on hold for 20 minutes by an over-efficient Oberoi staffer in Mumbai -- hop over to London for a day, and then carry on to Los Angeles. But it was enough for him to send signals that had the political heavyweights of the nation, including the most political of them all, Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee, attending a dinner at the Ashok Hotel to celebrate seven years of Rajat Sharma's Adalat, which Murdoch confessed he had never watched, but which he might appear on, though ``I can't promise that I will ever be declared Best Speaker''.

That honour went, predictably, to Vajpayee, but all ears were cocked for pronouncements that Murdoch had to make at the end of his five-day visit to India. Though there wasn't a single Star TV executive who said that Direct-To-Home (DTH) matters in their scheme of things any more, and that Information Technology is what Murdoch is focused on, the NewsCorp Chairman seemed quite happy to admit that he hadn't given up on the contentious issue. Sure, he wanted a slice of the convergence pie, where internet meets telecom meets television, but he figures ``DTH is the quickest way to get there'' and if it ``happens, why not?''

He made it clear that he was interested in broadband, in getting into people's homes through any means possible, and in capitalising on India's human capital. The leadership of the country is ``enlightened'', he felt, and the ``ministers I have met today are very well-informed''. Three of them were sitting at his table -- the current Information and Broadcasting Minister Arun Jaitley, breaking his rule of never eating out, his predecessor Pramod Mahajan, and his predecessor Sushma Swaraj.

Though he didn't meet Vajpayee in the morning, making do with an appointment with his Principal Secretary Brajesh Mishra instead, he had fruitful meetings, he said, with Jaitley, Mahajan and Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha. He was looking at an investment in India of over $200 million and it was Star TV that was going to continue to be his platform. As the COO of NewsCorp, the handlebar-moustachioed Chase Carey and the somewhat less flamboyantly hirsute Star TV CEO Peter Mukerjea looked on from a lower table, Murdoch chatted easily with Vajpayee, who dipped into his saffron-coloured carrot and orange soup.

Even as former Star TV CEO and now Chairman of Broadcast Worldwide Rathikant Basu sat at another table, the Prime Minister's foster family pressed flesh with several in the gathering. While Ranjan Bhattacharya, at a table with Star TV's Executive Director Urmila Gupta and lawyer Raian Karanjawala, actor Anupam Kher and Janata ki Adalat Programme Director Ritu Dhawan, sent instructions through the SPG to Shatrughan Sinha to smile, former minister Uma Bharati came and playfully blindfolded the actor-turned-politician. She was soon whisked away to the head table where she was soon replaced by the golden-haired and golden-sari clad Jayaprada who brought a smile to the poe-faced P. V. Narasimha Rao.

V. P. Singh came and went, Naina Balsaver, looking most unlike her Nainital campaign self in a black zardosi sari, dropped in on her way to another do. Ramakrishna Hegde left soon after dinner while Renuka Choudhary, sporting a trimmer hairdo, went from table to table shaking hands, including those of Bina Ramani and her husband Georges Mailhot who had just celebrated five years of marriage. Ghulam Nabi Azad, looking very dapper, stayed till the end as did the Bulgari-sporting Narendra Modi who was seen in intense conversation first with Star Executive Vice-President Gary Walrath and then with woman-about-town Ritu Beri.