Sony Goes On Air Again In The Us

Sony Entertainment Television (SET), the 24-hour Hindi channel, has resumed telecast in the US following a deal with Denver-based Echostar Corporation.

The channel had gone off the air in the US for its direct-to-home (DTH) subscribers around a fortnight ago, following the initiation of bankruptcy proceedings against its marketing agent _ Ethnic American Broadcast Corporation (EABC).

The corporation was the franchisee of Sony in the US. The channel, however, continued to be available to cable subscribers.

Under the deal with Echostar, SET will now be on the Echostar platform. Apart from Sony, the other channels on this platform are Zee, TV Asia, Zee Gold and B4U.

 

Besides, Dish Network,

the wholly owned subsidiary of Echostar, will also install the

set-top boxes at the home-end which are required for running the channel.

"The entire south-east Asian channels are getting consolidated in one platform _ Echostar," said Rajesh Pant, chief operating officer, SET.

Sony's woes began when Direct TV stopped carrying the channels on its satellites _ Galaxy 3 and Galaxy 6 _ following bankruptcy proceedings against EABC.

EABC had an agreement with Direct TV which provided the platform for carrying satellites.

The US market has become a hotbed for competition between south-east Asian channels.

This has resulted in the same channels that are telecast in India being beamed to the US also. Apart from Zee and Sony, other Indian channels like Sun TV, too, have a presence in the US market.

Meanwhile, SET India, the company which is in charge of the Indian operations, has set itself a revenue target of Rs 800 crore in 2000-2001.

The company had achieved last year's target of Rs 400 crore ahead of schedule.

It has also lined up investments worth Rs 250 crore for SET Max, another channel from the Sony stable. SET Max showcases cricket matches, Hindi films and other special events.