No doubt CNBC India is a niche channel but it is a service that is going to catch on given the fact that Sony is going to push it to brokers, corporate clients, financial institutions and cable operators.

The first three participants of its digital bouquet are: Sony Entertainment, Sony Max and AXXN. Sony is believed to be hoping to expand it to at least eight channels, going up to a dozen. Alliances with services such as Discovery and Animal Planet are a distinct possibility. Both Zee and Sony are beginning to gather tenants for their digital services.

Zee is way ahead with more than a dozen channels already in its bag, thanks to its regional language channels under the Alpha brand. The firstof its distribution contracts is with kids channel kids channel Nickelodeon and should roll out in the next month. Additionally, two of its own English channels should make their debut soon.

What does the aggressive digital entry of Set India mean? Well, it's willing to take the battle to the enemy camp for starters, though it may be getting into the game a little late. The way Sony Entertainment has caught up on Zee TV's entertainment channel is the stuff that broadcasting history books will write about. Who knows it may well do the same with its digital bouquet too. The point is it no longer fears that Zee TV will oust it from its cable TV network.

Observers point out to the failed attempts of Zee TV chairman Subhash Chandra to get Sony blacked out from the Siticable network in the residential area where he lives. And above all this, its own digital bouquet will give it some room to negotiate with Zee TV's Siticable should it throw its weight around.

Earlier SET India CEO had dismissed the digitalbouquet race as a piece of hogwash and had said he would not participate in it; he would be looking at future technologies. Apparently, he seems to have changed his mind now and accepted that digital bouquet is the way to go. And war is something his network will have to do on the digital front. So let's wait for it.

Advertising showcase
It's been compiled through a selection panel consisting of the best in the advertising and marketing business. The names are stellar: K Kurian, Preeti Vyas Gianetti, Viru Hiremath, Chaks Chakravarty, Ivan Arthur, Kiran Khalap, Elsie Nanji, Piyush Pandey, Roger Pereira, Bharat Kapadia, Sudharshan Dheer, Pheroza Billimoria, Pandit Vinod Sharma. Additionally, the Showcase of Indian Advertising is edited by that creative whiz who decided to give it all up to go to Goa, Frank Simoes.

It covers the best of Indian advertising between 1995 and 1998. The book has been published by the Indian chapter of International Advertising Association. And to make sure that thequality of printing was of high class, it was printed and processed at the Thomson Press Hong Kong Ltd.

There are sections covering ads on Travel and Tourism, automobiles, public service advertising, electronics, books and media, health, beauty clothing, and fashion (thankfully the controversial Tuffs ad with Sapre and Soman with a serpent was not included though another Tuffs ad is on display), entertainment, sports and field games, and food beverages and tobaccoIt sure is going to be a useful companion to anyone interested in the advertising business. Be they students or practitioners or even the lay person.

There are a couple of grouses: the volume of the first edition of Showcase of Indian Advertising is a wee bit too slim (just 208 pages) for an industry that produces more than three thousand ads each year.

Surely some good campaigns may have been missed out. The Showcase on Indian advertising should also become an annual offering with categories such as rural advertising and promotion beingincluded. This apart, it is a welcome addition to the reference material on the Indian advertising industry.

Pick up a copy, to get nostalgic about ads for Cadbury Dairy Milk Chocolate, Amul, Mint-O, Mauritius Tourism, Titan, Savlon, Shopper's Stop, and Mahindra Armada amongst several others.

The author is developing a portal http://www.indiantelevision.com. Reach him at television@vsnl.com and television@hotmail.com