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On the one hand, the government and the industry is trying to get the couch potato back to the theatres. And on the other, television companies are hell bent on keeping the viewer hooked.

On that note, B4U, the London-based multimedia entertainment group, will launch a new entertainment channel on September 3, following the success of their music channel.

Company chairman Kishore Lulla said that the channel was aimed at bringing home the world of the superstars.

Shahrukh Khan's media company, Dreamz Unlimited, has in fact already signed a contract with B4U to produce film-based programming and television serials.

The new channel will have three bands, of which the premier one will be the entertainment band. Here, most of the programming will be Bollywood-driven -- thus, besides the usual film-based programmes, there will be a star cookery show with the reigning kings and queens of Bollywood sharing their favourite recipes; a star fitness section wherein stars will demonstrate and discuss their fitness regimens; a star-travel segment with stars sharing their favourite tourist spots and holidays with the viewer, and so on.

The second band is devoted to soaps and serials, and the third band will be purely dedicated to feature films, Lulla said.

''We want to reach out to the maximum number of people in India, and therefore have tied up with local distributors and also have a dynamic distribution team, ensuring the channels reach the remotest corners of the country'', he added.

The group also proposes to introduce three more channels shortly -- one dedicated to news, and two vernacular channels in Tamil and Telugu.

And oh yes, the company plans to go public, with its IPO, soon.