[HCDX] DD, AIR not mouthpiece of party in power: Prasar Bharati CEO

[sakthi vel <ardicdxclub@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

The Prasar Bharati CEO K S Sarma, who is credited with
an aggressive strategy on TV rights and giving a
commercial orientation to the running of Doordarshan
and All-India Radio, feels the Government needs to
adopt a "middle path approach" on operational and
editorial matters in the running of the public
broadcaster. 

Sarma, who demits office today, feels that Prasar
Bharati will become a financially-viable entity in the
next three years, not dependent on Government finances
to meet expenses. 

In an interview to PTI, Sarma denied perceptions that
the public broadcaster was a mouthpiece of the party
in power. "Well, all this talk is highly exaggerated.
Being a public broadcaster, one is supposed to be
carrying forward the message of the Government as well
as various schemes meant for social welfare," he said.


However, Sarma said the public broadcaster should be
granted greater autonomy in operational matters.
"There are certain areas where one requires more
freedom. These are on the visit of employees abroad,
their promotions, their benefits," he said. 

Sarma has kicked off various initiatives which have
see Prasar Bharati cut down its dependence on
Government for meeting expenditure, which is to the
tune of roughly Rs 1,800 crore annually. 

"I see enormous future for Prasar Bharati. The
potentialities for revenues are enormous without
sacrificing our role as a public broadcaster. We have
taken a number of initiatives that are aimed at
enhancing resources from the existing set-up," he
said, adding the public broadcaster could be
self-sufficient in the next three years. 

The slew of new initiatives and cricket telecast saw
the cash-strapped public broadcaster realise its
highest-ever revenues as they crossed the Rs
1,000-crore mark to close 2005-06 at Rs 1,230 crore at
a growth of 48 per cent. 

In-house marketing of properties, revenues from
cricket telecast and increased media campaigns from
government departments were among the initiatives
behind the growth in numbers. Sarma said introduction
of blockbuster Hindi films on DD National network and
narrowcasting programming strategy were major
initiatives. 

Sarma said one of the big opportunities for Prasar
Bharati was through scrolling of local advertisements.
"We have around 600 low-power transmitters and 300
high-power transmitters. Through each of these, we can
run scrolls which will have local advertising. 

"I have supplied requisite equipment at every place
and now they a going to start. We have as much as Rs
100 crore sitting in this area," he said. 

Prasar Bharati has also decided to charge annually a
nominal carriage fee of Rs one crore from the channels
on its free-to-air (for subscribers) DTH platform DD
Direct Plus channels. "Around four of the 19 private
channels have already paid and we feel that once all
of them give the money, it will be a self-sustaining
model, not requiring investments from our side," Sarma
said.
++++++++++++++++++++
Source:
http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/holnus/001200606301150.htm
++++++++++++++++++++
Jaisakthivel,
Chennai.


		
__________________________________________________________
Yahoo! India Answers: Share what you know. Learn something new
http://in.answers.yahoo.com/
---[Start Commercial]---------------------

World Radio TV Handbook 2006 is out. 
Order yours from http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0823059367/hardcoredxcom/

---[End Commercial]-----------------------
________________________________________
Hard-Core-DX mailing list
Hard-Core-DX@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
http://arizona.hard-core-dx.com/mailman/listinfo/hard-core-dx
http://www.hard-core-dx.com/
_______________________________________________

THE INFORMATION IN THIS ARTICLE IS FREE. It may be copied, distributed
and/or modified under the conditions set down in the Design Science License
published by Michael Stutz at 
http://www.gnu.org/licenses/dsl.html