Islamabad  - Pakistani cable operators on Friday stopped transmissions by the Geo private news channel - apparently on the orders of the government during a cross-country march by the opposition parties, a Geo official said.

An alliance of opposition parties and tens of thousands of lawyers have launched a so called long march on Islamabad for independent judiciary, a move that seems to turning into a popular movement.

CanWest Global Communication Corp. dropped out of The Canadian Press national news organization in 2007, and now Sun Media Corp. is following in its footsteps. Quebecor-owned Sun Media has given notice that it plans to pull out of The Canadian Press and form its own news-gathering service.

Canadian Press executive editor Gerry Arnold told the Globe that is was already planning to restructure it co-operative configuration in which none of the news papers will be a part of the cooperative anymore. Instead, they will now function as commercial customers of the agency and will buy services.

San Francisco  - US newspaper giant McClatchy said Monday that it plans to eliminate 1,600 jobs, or 15 per cent of its workforce, in yet another indication of how the recession is deepening problems in the already troubled newspaper business.

TV Today network, the promoter of Aaj Tak news channel, informed on Tuesday that it would buyback 10 per cent equity from public at Rs 115.

The offer price of Rs 115 is at a premium of 102 per cent to the company's yesterday's closing price Rs 56.95 on the NSE.

The company proposes to buy back a maximum of 47.79 lakh equity shares and a minimum of 2 lakh equity shares from existing shareholders at Rs 115 per share for an aggregate amount of about Rs 29.30 crore.

The buy back would commence on March 16 and would close on July 30, 2009.

The continued mutual praise between West Bengal chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee and Union external affairs minister Pranab Mukherjee continued to enthuse Bengali newspapers. And Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee's irritation over it added spice to news items. Bengali dailies sensitive to affairs in neighbouring Bangladesh also gave prominent coverage to the BDR attacks in Dhaka.

The bonhomie between the Congress and the Left began at a function in Kolkata last Sunday when Mukherjee, in the presence of Bhattacharjee, criticised Mamata's movement against industrialisation in the state.

15% agency commission on govt ads waived

10% increase in DAVP rates

The government is announcing sops for the media sector in phases, ahead of general elections. While the information and broadcasting (I&B) ministry had earlier this month announced abolition of customs duty on newsprint, it has now waived the agency commission on DAVP (Directorate General of Audio Visual Publicity) advertisements, and also increased ad rates.