ITV

Tag: Mera Astitva

  • 7 Star Care to launch two interactive shows

    7 Star Care to launch two interactive shows

    MUMBAI: 7 Star Care, the only health channel in India, has gone interactive. Three of its shows are SMS-driven, allowing viewers to ask questions on their health issues.

    We have tied up with all the mobile operators. The SMS-driven queries will allow us to go closer to the viewers, says 7 Star Care promoter Atul Saraf.

    The channel plans to launch two more interactive shows in July. Mera Astitva will deal with issues like alcohol consumption and old age where a five-minute picturisation will be followed by an opinion poll from viewers through SMS. The half-hour programme will be aired on Sundays.

    The other one-hour weekly show will feature issues like AIDS, selling of kidneys and mismanagement in hospitals. Viewers can SMS their questions which will be answered to by experts.

    The channels interactive programmes include Hello Doctor (to get tips from doctors), Rudraksha (viewers SMS their name and date of birth to get the appropriate Rudraksha) and Swad Aur Swasth Meena (given a weekly diet chart).

    7 Star Care is on the global beam of Thaicom and is uplinked from Bangkok. The channel came up after Care TV, floated by Tanu Healthcare Ltd, shut down transmission due to non payment of uplinking charges to VSNL since February.

    Tanu Healthcare had sold the brand and logo of the channel to Take Care TV, which ran the operations (programming, marketing and distribution of Care TV) for eight months from January 2004. But in August, Tanu served a legal notice, accusing Take Care of not paying for the acquisition of the brand.

    Take Care TV, floated by Saraf, is planning to sue Tanu Healthcare for damages worth Rs 100 million, an amount which it claims it had invested towards programming, marketing and distribution of the channel. Tanu, says Saraf, had promised to grant Take Care a no objection certificate for use of uplinking facility for Care TV from VSNL to Thaicom satellite, but had done nothing towards it.

  • Bilingual health channel Care TV debuts 11 December

    MUMBAI: Care TV, Asia’s first health channel, is finally making a formal debut tomorrow after a two-month test run. 
    Live Satellite Media (LSM) CMD Atul Saraf told Indiantelevision.com that the channel will debut with 6-8 hours of programming but will be going 24×7 in another six months.
    Moving in to gain from the first mover advantage, Saraf’s LSM had recently acquired Care TV from Tanu Healthcare. Though Saraf did not reveal the details of the acquisition deal with Tanu Healthcare, he said that the company was looking at an investment of Rs 250 million towards operations and programming content in the first year of operations. “Care TV will continue with its running format,” Saraf clarified.
    “LSM has the sales and distribution rights for Care TV while Take Care TV Pvt Ltd will handle the programming, operations and management of the channel,” he added.
    Saraf, who has 100 per cent holding in LSM, declined to divulge his stake in the recently floated Take Care TV Pvt Ltd, which is being co-promoted by Ajit Gupta. Gupta has worked with Zee, Astha and CMM and has spent 17 years in the central government in various departments.
    When asked how the channel was pitching itself in the market, Saraf said that as of now LSM was using ground promotions to generate awareness about the channel. “We are also talking to various channels for on air promotions,” he added. The channel is looking at a market reach of 20 million households by the end of the quarter ending January 2004.
    The channel’s programming content is slated to cover a wide spectrum of programmes including a live interactive show which allows viewers to call in with their queries and speak to a panel of doctors. Apart from the interactive show, the channel will be launching two new programmes called Ek Duje Ke Liye, Mera Astitva and other programmes on alternative therapy as well. According to Saraf, programming content will largely focus on what the common man needs and hence will be bilingual. The free-to-air channel is being broadcast via a Thaicom satellite.
    Saraf also referred to LSM’s tie up with Perfect Monitoring Services, explaining that Perfect Monitoring will be screening cable transmission and the reports generated on the cable advertisements will be provided free of cost to clients. Also, according to a company release, this would go a long way in reviving regional cable advertising, which was dying a slow death.