Rival ESPN-STAR Sports has reportedly sold out all the commercial time on the two channels. The telecast of the World Cup on DD is embroiled in a major controversy with Stracon, the company marketing the airtime for the event, being pushed to the ropes.

One of the ex-members of the DD air-time marketing consortium, Nimbus, has alleged that Stracon has wrongly been given the air-time marketing rights by the state-owned broadcaster, despite the fact that its minimum guarantee bid of Rs 35 crore was higher than the former's Rs 26 crore.

The matter has reached the court and a Government inquiry is being conducted into the involvement of certain DD and information and broadcasting ministry officials. Estimates are that the event will generate Rs 50-60 crore in advertising revenue for DD and another Rs 60-odd crore forESPN-STAR Sports.

So what has brought l'affaire World Cup to such a pass? Envy and big bucks, which has become the bane of Indian entertainment and television. Stracon has been more successful at what it set out to do than others in the business.

Along the way it may have resorted to some under-the-table dealings; but which producer hasn't. One can't forget that it helped DD exploit the true commercial value of sports by buying up telecast rights at a time when few producers saw merit in the activity.

Of course, Stracon took the risk and made money in the bargain. In the process, an accusation of unnecessary favouritism has been hurled at DD for sticking to Stracon for more than a few events. And today, others also want a slice of the big steak now.

Hopefully for DD, the problems will be resolved soon and not drag along in court with Stracon promoter Siddhartha Ray challenging DD's right to start another round of bidding for the event.

The biggest loser will be the state-owned broadcaster asuncertainty is something no advertiser will tolerate.

Of course, even Ray stands to lose, in case new bids are called for, because he has packaged some airtime for the Sharjah Cup along with the World Cup. The main beneficiary of this infighting: ESPN-STAR Sports. So DD had better pull up its socks and reach a settlement quickly, lest it wants to add more red ink to its already bloodied balance sheet.

The road to Cannes

Cannes is where a bunch of Indian advertising folk is headed for the ad festival. Cannes is where a whole lot of television folk worldwide are also jetting to for the Mip TV '99 and Mip Doc festivals between April 10 and 17.

However, unlike previous years a strong Indian contingent will not be marking its presence there. Mip TV has a major focus on Japanese television with speakers highlighting the changes taking place in the business (April 13). This is followed by another session on variety programming and show formats. A strong Latin American delegation of 85 buyers andsellers such as Telefilms and TV Azteca is slated to come out in full force for the festival.

The Latin American market is a huge consumer of telenovellas (similar to the soaps in India) and Indian programmers may find some customers for their software in that market. This apart, executives from a few of the channels and broadcasting companies in Latin America are also slated to throw light on the television environment in the region.

Mip Doc '99, which is in its second year, will show case documentaries and ethnology programs. Seminars and conferences will unveil editorial policies for documentary programming with speakers comparing in-house production with pre-purchasing and co-production strategies, as well as methods for working with producers and distributors. Programming strategies, including tips on the proper choice of time slots and audience analysis will also be addressed.

On April 14, Mip TV will play host to a `Europe-meets-Asia Forum' dedicated to cultural and educational networks in thetwo regions. The meeting is organised jointly by the Europe Asia Foundation (ASEF), ARTE, Europe's cultural channel, La Cinqui me, a channel dedicated to training, knowledge and discovery, and Singapore Television Twelve (STV 12), a cultural and educational service.

The forum aims at fostering contacts between television channels from the two continents and develop relationships between professionals operating in the field of cultural and educational television. More than 10,000 participants are expected to attend Mip TV, Mip Doc and other related events in Cannes.

Fate of the broadcasting industry

With the BJP-led Government looking shaky at the Centre, the broadcasting and advertising industry is worried about what will befall the business, should a new government come in.

The Government has, in the past year, let the Prasar Bharati Act lapse to its original status, it is considering lifting the direct-to-home television ban, it has allowed foreign investment in Indian ad agencies, it isworking on an advertising and programming code, it has provided sops to exporters of television software and it is seeking to allow up to 20 per cent foreign-owned companies to uplink and set up their own earthstations in India.

Mahajan, as information and broadcasting minister, has been pushing the concept of addressability and has even started a dedicated satellite television sports channel. The question with executives is: should this Government fall, will the status quo be allowed to continue? Or will the BJP initiatives be undone and another batch of new rules thrust on industry? For answers, we will have to wait for the next episode of the political drama that is taking place in Delhi.

The writer is the editor of The Indian Cab&Sat Reporter. Feel free to email with your comments to television@vsnl.com or television@hotmail.com