Showing posts with label Flyboy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Flyboy. Show all posts

Friday, February 09, 2007

So who exactly was the first Indian civilian to fly the F-16?

Headlines Today, which was the only channel which had ad-less wall-to-wall coverage of the insidious plot to finish off Mamta Banerjee's favourite industrialist in a fiery crash (not!) claims that it was Mister T who was the first. I kinda doubted that, simply because I happen to know Flyboy! And when I told Flyboy, he was most incensed at this, because he flew the Falcon a few hours before that, "I was the first Indian civilian to fly the F-16", he insisted, before adding that he was also the first Indian civilian on the F-18 E/F SuperHornet and the MiG-35. Now, before we all feel jealous of Flyboy, and I truly am, therefore he always buys the drinks whenever I meet him, the question here is how did Headlines Today manage to make such a goof-up? Is it because the channel has a younger average age than that of MTV Networks (the ad-free nature is because nobody advertises there) and has a 26-year old as boss? Hmmm...
But then again, when was the last time you actually put on Headlines Today on TV out of choice, or put it on even out of compulsion? Hmmm... Well, then again, the ad-free coverage of events like this does make it a lot more pleasant than the Hindi News channels which are interrupted baniyan adverts by film superstars, or the other high-brow English Channel (No, this does not include Times Now, which well is not the worst English channel only by default) which have high-brow advertisements which are made to win awards at the Abby's (and somehow always come out in late January!). Anyway, Flyboy is upset and I shall console him with some whiskey and talk of the 'Brotherhood'.
Anyway, since talk has been of Headlines Today, lets start the WTFROTD - which involves the same channel and the talk that TV Today is looking to dispose of it. Now, after the India Today Group rid itself of Red FM, brand and all, getting rid of this TV Channel laden with brand, is not implausible. But, my question is who on earth will buy it? Because, the biggest predator on the block, aka TV18, certainly won't, because the latest rumour surrounding them is that TV18 is looking at getting Cybermedia, but as friends from inside say, there is a new rumour everyday. Of course, the BS rumour has been squashed, but I'm still trying to figure out what will happen to BS if WSJ buys FT and then there is that little thing with Papermint and then Papermint and BS merge into this completely imcomprehensible product, while people continue to buy just ET. Anyway, I think I'm going a bit crazy, should have skipped the beer at lunch!
A couple of quick points - I'll be fairly busy all through next week, so I'll try and do some quick one-liners if I can, but don't bet on it. And do build up readership at the new blog - here is yet another link to it!