Daily News Snippets: Mon 26th September

ZEE not keen on winning cricket rights
The stand-off between the captain and the coach and the chaos in the cricket board’s annual general meeting has upset ZEE Telefilms Chief Subhash Chandra to such an extent that he is no longer keen to acquire the exclusive rights for cricket.

“I hope I don’t get it now,” Chandra said when asked if he was optimistic about cricket rights as well after his channel today signed a 10-year deal of exclusive telecast rights for football.

“People are disappointed with cricket. It’s TRP ratings fell to 300-odd during the Sri Lanka series and further to only 60 during the recently concluded Zimbabwe series,” he said.

“I don’t have to tell you what is happening in the the cricket board,” he said.

Chandra said he wanted to make India a sporting nation rather than a cricketing nation only.

SET Max hints at encryption
Sony executives have given their strongest hint yet about encrypting their movies and concerts channel SET Max. According to insiders, SET Max will be ending its free run of the channel mid-October. This is also when the channel will revamp its content and introduce a slew of new movies. SET Max has been airing free in the UK since July.

Asian Leader becomes The Asian Today
National paper Asian Leader ceased trading earlier this month due to business changes. The paper has now been re-branded and given an overhaul. It will now be known as The Asian Today. The paper is run by the Urban Media Ltd, which also produces the Desi Xpress paper. The entertainment paper has now also gone national.