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Biz Asia News Snippets

Indus TV still on track for UK launch Pakistani broadcaster Indus TV is still looking at launching on Sky Digital later this year, ending speculation that its license had been revoked by media regulator Ofcom. According to the Director of International Operations, he told Biz Asia the following: “That was not our license, someone had obtained a license for several years with a name similar to Indus. Ofcom had contacted us, but we had never obtained a license to begin with. We don’t plan to obtain a license until nature of our launch deal has been finalised until later in the year.” Indus was planning to launch in the UK last December and then again in March but discussions of launching on the Sky Digital EPG are still ongoing. Bollywood concert Rockstars – a flop! The numerous amount of Bollywood concerts recently in the UK are proving to be disastrous for promoters. After the flop of Akshay Kumar and Saif Ali Khan�۪s ��Heat�۪ concert in April, this past weekend�۪s Salman Khan and John Abraham show ��Rockstars�۪ proved an even bigger let down with the Wembley show on Sunday being cancelled. Reason? A clash between the international and national promoter of the event. According to sources, the dispute was over money being owed to the stars. They included Salman Khan, John Abraham, Shahid Kapoor, Kareena Kapoor, Eesha Deol, Malika Shrewat and Zayed Khan. Furthermore the plug was also near to being pulled on the Saturday Birmingham show. The event started over an hour late than scheduled. The NEC show also struggled to attract spectators with only a half filled venue! Losses will be felt in a huge way by the promoters who were hoping the recent Salman Khan controversy would help ticket sales! Finally the public has spoken! They�۪ve had enough of UK fans being ripped off by these so called ���different�۝ Bollywood concerts! ZEE vs Fanaa -the end! Most us are aware the ‘business deadlock’ between media giant ZEE Network and blockbuster movie Fanaa! When we spoke to a ZEE official in India regarding the status between the two parties and how it would affect Yashraj Films (Yashraj was the distributor of Fanaa) other movie releases, this is the response we obtained; “E-city Ventures, the company that manages multiplex business of Essel Group has decided not to support Fanna due to a business deadlock, NOT to get noticed. Every film that does well at box office contributes to the overall growth and betterment of the Industry. We have very clearly mentioned that this deadlock is purely for Fanna and other products from Yashraaj films have nothing to do with it. This deadlock is also primarily due to our belief that a common yardstick must be used for all creative works across the industry.” The ZEE vs Fanaa “dispute” was also brushed aside by the ZEE official; “There is no ‘dispute’ as it is made out to be. We all are here to do business and sometimes deals work out and sometimes they don�۪t. It is all a part of the game.”