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NEW YORK, US: Time Warner Inc’s Warner Bros Television Group will relaunch the WB Network as an online video site offering original programming alongside reruns of shows such as “Friends” and “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” to court a new generation of viewers.

TheWB.com targets 16-to-34-years-old viewers with new shows developed by writer and producer Josh Schwartz, known for “Gossip Girl” “The O.C.” and “Terminator 4″ director McG.

The launch comes as media companies struggle to court a new generation of viewers, who spend as much time watching television as they do sending text messages on cellphones and watching online videos.

Schwartz’s “Gossip Girl,” for instance, has failed to generate big ratings for the CW Network, but has attracted a loyal following online. The CW Network, which once streamed full episodes of the show on the Internet, decided recently to pull it off the Internet to boost TV viewership.

Schwartz is developing a new show for TheWB.com that “takes viewers to the front of the line and behind the soundboard of a fictional Hollywood rock club,” Warner Bros said in a statement.

TheWb.com will also be distributed by Comcast Corp’s video-on-demand service and its online entertainment site Fancast.com. The new site will also be available on Time Warner’s AOL.

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SYDNEY (AUSTRALIA)/CHENNAI (INDIA): Polaris Software has partnered with the University of Western Sydney for contribution to local capacity building and help address the issue of IT skill shortages in Australia.

New South Wales government’s Department of State and Regional Development, which helped Polaris launch its PACE Labs - a software testing automation and performance engineering Center of Excellence - in Sydney last year, would facilitate the partnership.

“The partnership will contribute to international research, skills & workforce building for Western Sydney and work experience & exchange programs for UWS graduates,” said Beryl Hesketh, Dean of the College of Health and Science at UWS.

“It will also provide significant employment opportunities for UWS graduates and the Sydney workforce.”

“The Western Sydney region was chosen because it is a major center for population growth and industry development and Polaris’s corporate philosophy is aligned with UWS’s strong commitment to community engagement,” said Arun Jain, chairman and chief executive officer, Polaris Software Lab Limited.

The University of Western Sydney and Polaris Software will sign a Memorandum of Understanding on April 29 at the UWS Parramatta Campus.

Polaris Software is also in the process of establishing a software testing lab in Sydney.

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BANGALORE, INDIA: The IT industry has welcomed finance minister P Chidambaram’s announcement to extend tax holiday by a year for the Software Technology Park of India (STPI) scheme.

However, some companies while greeting the decision opined that an extension for a longer period would have been better.

S Mahalingam, CFO and ED, TCS

As an industry, we have the confidence to continuously invest heavily in the growth of the economy and create hundreds of thousands of skilled jobs in the country. In this context, the extension of the STPI scheme until 2010 will further strengthen the IT industry and hopefully, pave the way for further extensions.

V Balakrishnan, CFO, Infosys Technologies

This is a good move and would benefit the small and medium sized companies who are finding it difficult to move into SEZ space. Most of the larger companies are already pursuing their SEZ plans aggressively. This move will enable them to enjoy the tax benefits further for a period of one year on their revenues derived from their existing STP operations.

Srinivas Vadlamani, CFO, Satyam Computer Services

The extension of STPI benefits by one year is definitely a welcome move while an extension for a longer period would have definitely been more welcome. It could not have come at a more appropriate time, as the sector is grappling with the twin effects of the unprecedented surge in the rupee and uncertainty in the US economic landscape.

Swaminathan Krishnan, SVP (Global Business Operations) & CMO, Sasken Technologies

The extension is too short. One-year does not make a big impact. One-year horizon is pretty short term in planning cycle. I would have preferred a much longer period. Five-year extension would have an impact for the industry.

Rostow Ravanan, CFO, MindTree Ltd.

We are happy about the announcement, although a longer extension would have been more welcome. Overall, the extension is beneficial to the industry as a whole, particularly to small and medium firms.

N Ramachandran, CFO, iGATE Global Solutions

The extension of tax holiday for IT companies has been very timely and will help face the impending challenges of prevailing global economic uncertainties as well as strengthening Indian rupee. We do hope that the government takes a re-look at the whole scheme of tax holiday and formulates a more stable longer-term tax incentive structure that can be one of the enablers for the Indian IT sector to move up the value chain and attain the next level of dominance in the world market.

Archana Srinivasan, VP, Finance, Cybernet-SlashSupport

This step will give some reprieve to the STPI units and also help them retain their competitive edge especially in the current market scenario of the fluctuating rupee.

JA Chowdary, MD, NVIDIA Graphics Pvt. Ltd.

It is definitely a good decision especially for small and medium enterprises. The large companies have benefited for a long time and have their own campuses. Now, small companies should not be denied of this and this extension should be for a longer period. But we are happy that it has been extended for at least another year.

Ravi Pandit, chairman & Group CEO, KPIT Cummins

This is a welcome move for the entire industry, which is currently under a lot of pressure due to the strengthening rupee and weakening US economy. Moreover, the STPI scheme holds a special importance for the smaller companies as it provides an impetus for accelerated growth.

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NEW DELHI, INDIA: Finance Minister P Chidambaram on Tuesday extended tax holiday scheme by a year for the STPI (Software Technology Park of India) scheme.

While replying to a debate on budget proposals in parliament, the FM said that the decision was made as the next budget is likely to be presented only after May 2009.

The tax exemption scheme for companies based in STPI parks was to expire in March 2009.

As per the minister’s announcement, IT-BPO companies will be benefited from the tax exemption till March 31, 2010.

The IT industry has been clamoring for a tax exemption for the STPI scheme as a possible way to tide over the crises precipitated by factors like US recession, rupee appreciation and inflation.

The government had announced a 10-year tax holiday for the units in April 2000 under a policy aimed at encouraging growth in the IT sector.

The new of tax holiday extension has been greeted by the IT industry.

“We are pleased that the extensive follow up and work done by Nasscom with the PMO, Ministry of IT, Ministry of Finance and Ministry of Commerce, among others has provided this interim relief to the industry. In particular we are thankful to minister A Raja for his unstinted support,” said Nasscom in a statement.

The decision is particularly beneficial for BPO companies and the small and medium segment, said Nasscom.

“This benefit will also give us time to come up with other workable and acceptable options for the future, beyond 2010. The IT-BPO industry is expanding into tier 2 and 3 cities which will help remove the pressure on large centers as well as help in more balanced economic development,” the industry body said.

Nasscom added that it is important to provide incentives to those moving to tier 2 and 3 cities with STPI/SEZ like benefits.

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PUNE, INDIA: Femina, Women’s Era, GrihaShobha, Vanita, Elle, MEOW 104.8 FM (a radio channel especially for women), sunsilkgangofgirls.com, and now the updated version of www.sitagita.com (Sigi) with special content for BPO women employees.

The site that made its debut over eight years ago, is now trying to make sense of huge better half of the industry.

And why not? According to an estimate, some time back in the Indian IT industry, women accounted for about to 30 per cent of the total workforce till last year and this was expected to go up to 45 per cent by 2010.

What is noteworthy is the steady rise of the figures. The figure, according to the Registrar General of India, as in 1981 was 19.7 per cent, which rose to 22.7 per cent in 1991, further rising to 25.7 per cent in 2001.

And recent Nasscom figures claim that the percentage of women workers in the IT and ITES sectors in India has risen by almost 18 per cent in the last two years.

So what triggered the idea of doing something for BPO’s fairer sex?

Nirmal Mirza, CEO, Sigi points out the number of women in this sector and their unique needs. “The numbers would only grow. Look at the deluge of newspapers and sites that have sprung up off late. We want to be the ultimate BPO destination with a holistic experience. The idea is to give an all-purpose women’s website that addresses their needs.”

The menu of the site reflects the focus of BPO employees. Designed out of research with advisors, HR people, call center professionals and trainers who are in the best position to assess women needs, as Mirza shares, the effort has been to touch every possible aspect and gap area.

Dollops like BPO blogs, BPO buzz, advice on accent, office stuff, career and personal problems are good attempts amidst the usual vanilla stuff like beauty tips, marital problems, food and grandma corner. Articles like Office Romances, life in a BPO hit at the other side which comes into full bloom in the letters to Agony Aunt where sleeping partners, affairs, relationships usurp the eye-candy factor.

Nevertheless counseling is a good hit and a gap area if one goes by the feedback.

As a BPO employee shared, people in BPOs do need to go for psychiatrist’s help, so counseling is a good idea.

Sigi has on its advisory board names like Hema Malini, film industrialist, Lily Madhok, Nutritionist, Dr. Nanditha Krishna, director, C.P. Arts Centre, Timeri Murari, Dr. Dega Narayana Reddy, expert on Sexology, Ayurveda expert Dr. Nedungadi V. Haridas and Dr. T. Prabalkumari, Psychiatry expert.

The effort has panned out well if figures are anything to go by.

“Last three months we have clocked one lakh unique visitors with four to five lakh page views per month.”

But do BPO workers have time to check out the novel stuff made specially for them?

“No,” says a BPO woman employee. “We seldom get time to access Net beyond the work. Moreover, we have to observe discipline on what to surf on Net and what not, so our radius of access is small. And who would want to check Net on the weekends when everyone just wants to unwind.”

Still, there can be emphasis on areas that need more attention if we are talking about the BPO workforce specially. Their problems hover around career graph, growth, skill development, etc.

“I would look for more stuff on self-assessment, self-advancement, training, identification and fulfillment of gaps and advance courses,” says Anupama M, a BPO professional with Ntrance, Pune.

For now, at Sigi, there are many possibilities being explored. The idea can be taken to the next level by tying up with the BPOs.

Discussions, for instance, are on with BPOs like 24/7 for possible initiatives besides co-sponsorship deals with others.

But the revenue model of the site would focus majorly on advertisements, reveals Mirza.

Starting shortly is another addition, video streaming and with many more ideas brewing in her mind, it would be interesting to see, how successfully, does the site lives up to her ambitions. Wooing the woman, as they say, is everything but easy.

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BANGALORE, INDIA: Even as the Tibetan issue has been brewing precipitated by the Olympic torch run, action hero Jackie Chan blamed the media for distorting his wordings and giving a wrong impression to the world about his participation in it.

His participation in the torch run had grabbed media headlines worldwide on account of his pro-Chinese stand.

Now, in a lengthy posting in his official website, Jackie Chan had blamed what he terms as ‘irresponsible journalism’ of media.

He said that when some reporters asked him about his participation in the Olympic torch run, he jokingly answered that “no one had better try to come near me while I’m carrying the torch.”

“I said it as a joke, and believe me, I made it quite clear that I was fooling around,” he wrote on his website.

But his comments were enough fodder for the media as the next day, news reports poured in with headlines like “Jackie Chan Threatens Olympic Protestors” and “Kung Fu Star Will Chop Down Protestors.”

Interestingly, this accusation was made while trying to clear up things caused by reports in some sections of media that the action hero refused to eat Indian food and that he declined to talk to anyone and dismissed Indian stars during his recent visit to Chennai for an audio release of Kamal Haasan-starrer Tamil movie Dasavatharam.

“One article accused me of ridiculous things like refusing to drink India’s bottled water – they said I brought my own imported mineral water - and of traveling with my own personal chefs because I refuse to eat Indian food,” he wrote.

Terming all the reports “complete nonsense”, he said that he had nothing but respect for Indian culture and Indian cinema. “And saying that I won’t eat Indian food! Nothing could be further from the truth; I adore Indian food, and in fact had two excellent meals on this trip and was so full I could barely leave my seat!,” he said.

The actor has challenged the reporters to prove that he actually brought his own water and asked them to check up with the housekeepers at the hotel whether he did such a thing.

“What brand did I bring? You say I refused to eat Indian food. Do your research and talk to the three butlers the hotel assigned to my room and ask them what I ate! You say I holed up in my air-conditioned hotel room, ignoring my hosts. Why would I travel all the way to India and refuse to leave my hotel room?”

He said that he had put up with a lot of ridiculous things written about him as he had been in the public eye for many years and that he seldom attacked anyone.

But, he said that few “irresponsible reporters” had spoiled the memory of his trip to India through some “offensive articles”.

He said he had left Chennai the same night only due to his busy schedule.