According to the agreement, Doordarshan and B4U will have a revenue-sharing arrangement. Besides assuring the national network of big movies, DD will be able to earn more than what it used to get from minimum guarantees in those time slots.

B4U will, according to the contract, provide the national network movies on the third Friday of every month at 9.30 pm. On public holidays, B4U's movies will be telecast on the afternoon band at 2.30 pm. B4U will market the airtime sales and the revenue from the movie slots will be shared between the two partners.

"We hope to do close to Rs 2 crore of business every month," Mr Gupta said. He, however, refused to divulge the revenue percentage B4U had to share with DD.

A majority of the movies to be aired on the third Friday of every month will be new films. B4U will also provide a few classical hits. Mother India, for instance, will be aired on January 26, 2001.

B4U, which has access to Bharat Shah's library, has rights to several blockbusters. Though it runs a Hindi general entertainment channel, it has slated several big movies to boost its ratings and audience base. B4U will air most of the movies on the national network after making use of it in its channel.

"We do not see a conflict between DD-1 and our channel. The audiences of DD and satellite channels are different. We have terrestrial rights to most of the movies we have acquired," said Mr Gupta.

Prasar Bharati chief executive officer Ratna Shah is trying to revive DD's audiences, revenues and market perception by involving big production houses. By contracting the night movie slot on the third Friday of every month and the afternoon movies on public holidays to B4U, Shah will be assured of a strong stream of film content on the national network. For DD Metro, he has already auctioned the three-hour prime time slot to Kerry Packer's Channel Nine. On Dussehra, DD-1 telecast Hum Aapke Dil Mein Rehte Hain. Dil Se will be aired on October 20 and Badshah on October 26. Satya will be shown on the third Friday of November. "Through us, DD can telecast movies just one year after its theatrical release. With a wide audience base, the movies can attract big-money advertising," said Mr Gupta.

Will B4U also buy out time slots on DD? "We plan to do more things with DD on the national network. This is just the beginning. But we are not looking at DD Metro as its audience base matches the profile of a private satellite channel's," said Mr Gupta.