Private channels may have to fund DD, AIR

[Sachin=GOD]

Private television channels may soon have to loosen their purse strings to fund Doordarshan (DD) and All India Radio (AIR) if a government committee has its way. The committee to restructure national public broadcaster Prasar Bharati is working on the proposal, which is likely to irk the broadcasting industry. The committee headed by national innovation council chairman Sam Pitroda believes that DD and AIR have been suffering losses since the entire responsibility of public service broadcasting lies with them. “Private channels are profit-oriented and have no public service obligation,†a government official said. It wants private channels to pay a ‘public broadcast fee’ to the government, which will be used by DD and AIR to run social benefit programmes. In the US, private broadcasters are required to provide money for public broadcasting through various methods, such as providing ad slots of 15-30 seconds. The UK’s British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) gets its money from licence fee that is levied on radio and television consumers. The Australian Broadcasting Company is government-funded, even though it is an autonomous body. Star, Zee and Sony networks refused comment but some officials of some other channels agreed to speak off the record “We have public broadcast presented in an interesting manner. It is not boring and typecast as done by DD,†said a private channel official who did not want to be named. A member of the Indian Broadcasting Foundation said the government cannot force private channels to make Prasar Bharati a viable model. “The public broadcaster has to find its own way to improve revenue,†he said. The government had constituted Sam Pitroda committee to suggest ways to maintain Prasar Bharati’s autonomous status and have an independent financing mechanism. Information and broadcasting minister Manish Tewari has ruled out the possibility of keeping Prasar Bharati free from government control if his ministry has to foot the bill. “Two-thirds of the I&B ministry's budget — Rs. 18.85 billion out of Rs. 28 billion — goes to Prasar Bharati. I am the recruiting authority, the disciplinary authority, the sanctioning authority. Yet, I am supposed to have them at arm's length. I am not God," he said. HT Wow!!! first they ruin the national TV and Radio network and then ask private operators to foot the bill.

[BeautifulGame]

DD had plenty of oppertunities to generate profit and become viable.But they ruined every chance and now are trying to force Pvt channels to fund them :facepalm: First thing should be reform the Prasar bharathi board imo

[DomainK]

DD has the highest reach in India and has the highest advertising rates - much higher than any private channel. Their programming quality, in terms of production value, is, however, very poor compared to private channels. They should make enormous profits. I am not oppose to the idea of private channels pooling money to help out the government channel. But this is a case where there should be no help needed. This is a case of incompetent and corrupt administration and private channels should not have to pay for that.

[Number]

DD has the highest reach in India and has the highest advertising rates - much higher than any private channel. Their programming quality, in terms of production value, is, however, very poor compared to private channels. They should make enormous profits. I am not oppose to the idea of private channels pooling money to help out the government channel. But this is a case where there should be no help needed. This is a case of incompetent and corrupt administration and private channels should not have to pay for that.

Why ? that money will be indirectly paid by people who watch private channels. :((

[Stuge]

Soon we willl have DD and AIR tax levid by private broadcasters lol

[mhr123]

i remember watching Match on DD .. lolzz .. the ads used to start before the over finish.. sometimes the batsman hits the ball high in the air and before the ball lands advertisement used to start ... we had to wait till ads were over to see if it was a six or catch. Even sometimes the batsman used to hit on the leg side and camera used to show off side. Lucky those days are over after private channels have emerged.