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Tag: DD

  • How DD will charge, telecast state sessions

    NEW DELHI: Doordarshan kendras have been told that they may cover on payment the sessions of state assemblies. This coverage may be on live or deferred live basis.

    Doordarshan has clarified that the address of the Governor to the state assembly may be telecast free and without any cost. Similarly, the budget presentation in state assemblies may also be telecast free and without any cost.

    The Doordarshan Directorate General said that this was in accordance with the present policy.

    Until the launch of Lok Sabha TV, Doordarshan had been covering without charge the President’s Address to the Joint Sitting of Parliament at the start of the budget session, and also the proceedings of the Lok Sabha.

    However, this coverage is now done by the Lok Sabha TV and the Rajya Sabha TV of their respective houses but the signals are available to Doordarshan without any payment.

    Also Read :

    Govt wakes up to broadcast tech changes, Prasar manpower audit under way

    Present mechanism to check TV content is adequate, says Rathore

    Need for outcome analysis on utility of Kisan Channel: Parl Committee

  • DD to hold second e-auction in April for upgraded FreeDish

    NEW DELHI: Doordarshan’s free-to-air direct to home platform FreeDish will hold its second auction on 11 April 2017 after its decision to cross the 100-mark from the capacity of 80 channels as on mid-February. 

    After final trials of MPEG4 and the success of the 32nd auction last month, the reserve price for the next auction has been raised to Rs 80 million from Rs 48 million per slot. Until last year, the reserve price was Rs 43 million but one channel fetched the bid of Rs 70 million in the auction held on 14 February 2017. Earlier last year, the price for one channel went up to Rs 53 million and gave DD the confidence to raise the price which had been Rs 37 million till 2015 but was raised to Rs 43 million for the 25th e-auction in January 2016.

    The e-Auction will be conducted by M/s. C1 India Pvt. Ltd., Noida which also conducted the FM Radio Phase III auctions on behalf of Prasar Bharati.  DD refused to disclose the number of slots being put up for e-auction as officials claim this leads to unhealthy practices.

    Doordarshan had in October last year formally announced that Free Dish was capable of carrying 104 television channels and 24 channels would be added to the existing 80 channels after the launch of MPEG4 technology.

    DD officials also confirmed to indiantelevision.com that FreeDish will soon be capable of carrying up to 250 channels.

    In line with the ‘Digital India’ and ‘Make in India’, DD has implemented Indian CAS (iCAS) on DD Free Dish Platform. iCAS (which is an initiative of the central government) was introduced in the auction held last month. The introduction of iCAS will provide enhanced viewing experience.

    DD officials said the existing viewers will continue to get 80 SDTV channels, but will have to obtain iCAS-enabled authorized set-top boxes for accessing all new channels.

    Although FreeDish will remain free to air with no monthly or periodic fee, the viewers will be required to register with DD Free Dish on getting the new STB from Doordarshan authorized STB dealers.

    FreeDish was launched with a modest bouquet of 33 channels in December 2004, and now carries eighty TV channels and 32 radio channels. This includes 22 Doordarshan channels and two parliamentary channels, seven general entertainment channels, 18 movie channels, 13 news channels, seven music channels, three religious channels and eight channels of other genres. All All India Radio stations also piggy-back on the platform.

    The participation amount (EMD) in the e-Auction is Rs.15 million which has to be deposited in advance before or by 12 noon on the date of auction along with processing fee of Rs.10,000 (non-refundable) in favour of PB (BCI) Doordarshan Commercial Service, New Delhi.

    Incremental amount for the auction will be Rs one million and the time for every slot e-auction will be of fifteen minutes duration. This may be extended by five minutes if a bid is received before the closing time.

    Of the reserve price, Rs 11 million will be deposited within one month of placement and another Rs 11 million within two months along with service tax of 15 per cent on the bid amount. The balance bid amount will be deposited within six months, failing which the deposited amount will be forfeited and the channel discontinued after a 21-day discontinuation notice.

    DD officials said implementation of iCAS and authorisation of STB original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) by Doordarshan will give a major thrust to ‘Make in India’ and ‘Digital India’. At present, a majority of STBs are imported. However, the introduction of iCAS will help in standardisation of STBs and encourage quality STB manufacturing in India.

    Also read:   

    Three new TV channels join DD FreeDish bouquet; 24 get extension

    Next FreeDish auction after MPEG4 operationalisation

    FreeDish’s first e-auction after upgradation in Mar

  • DD’s kids channel could partner private players, launch this year

    MUMBAI: Building its channel bouquet. That’s what pubcaster Doordarshan which operates more than 37 channels is doing. Come later this year, and DD will launch a free to air channel (FTA) targeted at toddlers. This was confirmed to indiantelevision.com by its director general Supriya Sahu.

    After GEC, kids is the third most expansive genre in terms of viewership and market potential, hence. Amongst the kids players in the space include: Disney and its clutch of channels, Viacom18, Zee Network, Cartoon Network, Sun TV etc.

    Speaking to Indiantelevision, Sahu says: “There is a gap in our FTA bouquet on FreeDish of kids and we are working with the ministry of information and broadcasting and Prasar Bharati to plug it. As a public service broadcaster we would we doing injustice to children we don’t come out with a kids specific channel. Soon, this year we should be finalizing its launch. The idea is that we should keep in place a very lean and efficient structure so we don’t pump in a lot of money. Perhaps we should share resources with the private sector which is already having the content. Perhaps share the revenue appears to me to be the best way to go about it.”

    What’s making Sahu even more bullish is the way Indian kids are taking to hand held devices like tablets and smart phones. And DD is riding this wave with its DVB-T2 dongles which allow the reception of DD’s TV channels on phones and tablets without any data costs. Says she: “We have already done this in 19 places, digitized our analog transmitter. There is a huge opportunity that kids content will also be available on any smart phone and its is free of data charge and there will be downloading as well. By 2018, we will be making it available in 44 places. So simultaneously when we are working on the kids content, will work on its distribution also.”

    Sahu is clearly not kidding.

  • DD national channel had a weekly viewership of 172 million in ’16

    NEW DELHI: The gross viewership of Doordarshan’s national channel in 2016 was 172 million per week as compared to 133 million per week in 2015 and 155 million per week in 2014.

    Minister of state for information and broadcasting Rajyavardhan Rathore has told the Parliament that the computation had been done under the New Consumer Classification System (NCCS).

    Being a public service broadcaster, the minister said in reply to a question that the pubcaster cannot therefore be guided purely by Commercial motive to produce high TRP ratings programmes.

    Section 12 of the Prasar Bharati (Broadcasting Corporation of India) Act 1990, the primary duty of the Corporation is to organise and conduct public broadcasting services to inform, educate and entertain the public.

    In accordance with these objectives, Doordarshan produces programmes encompassing the objectives of public service broadcasting.

    He said that DD telecasts a variety of programmes for viewers in rural areas through its entire network of 23 Satellite channels (24X7) including six National, one International, and 16 RLSS (Regional Language Satellite Services) channels.

    Apart from this, Doordarshan has launched DD Kisan Channel to meet the special requirement of farmers and viewers in rural areas. Its programme content includes core agriculture, weather, rural development and entertainment for the benefit of viewers in general and farming and rural community in particular.

  • DD Arunprabha: Bids invited for channel packaging

    NEW DELHI: Doordarshan has invited applications for an agency to undertake the channel packaging work for its new northeast channel, DD Arunprabha.

    A tender was released today (10 March 2017) and the last bid date is 1 May 2017 evening at 3.00 pm. There will be a pre-bid meeting on 30 March 2017.

    The technical bids will be opened on 2 May 2017 at 3.30 pm.

    The date of presentation and the date of opening of the financial bids will be announced later. Online registration will be done on e-tendering website.

    Activation of registration may take 24 hours or more subject to the submission of all relevant documents required in the process, Doordarshan said.

    Meanwhile, the reference for proposal and details thereof are available on the pubcaster’s website as well as e-tendering websites.

    Information and Broadcasting Minister M Venkaiah Naidu had earlier announced that a new dedicated Doordarshan channel Arunprabha would be launched erly this year.

    The channel would showcase richness, variety and diversity of local culture and would seamlessly integrate North East with the entire country.

    Also Read :

    North-East plan: DD channel Arun Prabha launch in early Jan; 90% subsidy for community radio

    DD 24×7 north-east channel starts on 25 December; Rs 7 crore allocated

    DD Arunprabha invites proposals in seven categories

    N-E programmes can be submitted  for DD Arunprabha till 31 Jan

     

  • Women to man DD on International Day

    NEW DELHI: In a unique initiative, women officers will be functioning as Operational heads in 33 Doordarshan Kendras in five zones across India to mark International Women’s Day.

    Interestingly, the Director General of Doordarshan presently is a senior woman Indian Administrative Service officer Supriya Sahu.

    All Doordarshan broadcast and engineering activities – transmission and recording – will be exclusively headed by women officers/staff.

    The DD Kendras and offices being covered are:

     
    (North Zone)
    (East Zone)
    (West Zone)
    1.    DDK Delhi
    1.    DDK Bhubaneshwar
    1.    DDK Bhopal
    2.    DD News
    2.    DDK Kolkatta
    2.    DDK Rajkot
    3.    CPC Delhi
    3.    DDK Patna
    3.    DDK Mumbai
    4.    DTH E/S Todapur
    4.    DMC Balasore
    4.    DDK Pune
    5.    DD Jaipur
    5.    DMC Burdhman
    5.    DDK Raipur
    6.    DDK Lucknow
    6.    DMC Rourkela
    6.    DDK Ahmadabad
    7.    HPT Pitampura
    7.    DMC Dhenkanal
     
    8.    DDK Shimla
    8.    DDK Ranchi
     
    9.    DDK Jallandhar
    9.    HPT Cuttack
     
     
    (South Zone)
    (North-East Zone)
     
    1.    DDK Chennai
    1.    DDK Guwahati
     
    2.    DDK Vijaywada
    2.    DDK Gangtok
     
    3.    DDK Hyderabad
    3.    DDK Shillong
     
    4.    DDK Bangalore
    4.    DDK Agartala
     
    5.    DDK Thiruvanathapuram
     
     

  • Diktat on coverage of anti-terrorism efforts & sharing sports feed with DD reiterated

    NEW DELHI: In an effort to remind television news channels about avoiding incorrect or provoking news, the Government repeated notifications issued by it earlier in regard to coverage of anti-terrorist activities, depiction of cruelty to animals, and coverage of sports events.

    The most recent notification of 17 January this year is a change under the Mandatory Sharing of Sporting signals by private channels with Doordarshan relating to sports of national importance.

    It seeks to cover other sports like Summer Olympics, Commonwealth Games, Asian Games, Special Olympics, Paralympics and events relating to tennis, Davis Cup-All matches featuring India; Grand Slam Tournaments (Finals of Men’s Singles, Women’s Singles and all matches featuring Indian player from quarter-finals onwards); and Grand Slam Tournaments (All such matches featuring Indian Player in men’s doubles, Women’s doubles or Mixed doubles from quarter-finals onwards), Hockey, World Cup (All matches featuring India and semi-finals and finals), Champions Trophy (All matches featuring India and finals); and Indira Gandhi Gold Cup for Women-Semi-finals and finals; Football; World Cup – Opening match, semi-finals and finals; Asia Cup – All matches featuring India and semi-finals and finals; and Santosh Trophy – Semi-finals and finals.

    http://mib.nic.in/writereaddata/documents/Notification_dated_27.1.2017.pdf

    The notification about depiction of cruelty to animals is dated 19 August last year: http://mib.nic.in/writereaddata/documents/Notification_dated_19.8.2016.pdf

    The recent events in Tamil Nadu and Karnataka relating to traditional folk sports relating to animals has made this repetition necessary, a Ministry source told indiantelevision.com.

    The third is about coverage of anti-terrorist activities and is dated 21 March 2015: http://mib.nic.in/writereaddata/documents/Notification_dated_21.03.2015.pdf

    After the Mumbai terrorist attacks of 25 November 2008, both the government and self-regulatory bodies had issued guidelines about coverage of anti-terrorist activities in the wake of public outcry.

    The recent events in Kashmir with stoning of police forces have led to further outcry in other parts of the country.

  • ALT Balaji to go live on 21 Feb, commercial launch on 15 April

    MUMBAI: For Ekta Kapoor, Sameer Nair, and the entire team at Balaji Telefilms D-Day has finally dawned. 21 Februrary 2017 is the day when its latest diversification ALT Balaji which has been talked about for so long will finally launch.

    Speaking to ET Now, CEO Sameer Nair said that the video on demand (VOD) platform will be rolled out to consumers as a free service to sample and snack in the first phase.

    “It’s going  tech live on 21 February,” he said. “We are testing the technology for the first month. Everything that can go wrong will go wrong. We will be testing whether it plays out well. You put it off, you put it on. Does it work well? Are all the features performing as well as expected?”

    He added that post this testing phase, the commercial launch has currently been slated for 15 April .

    Pricing he revealed has been kept super disruptive. “Netflix has a tag of Rs 600 a month, ours will be at Rs 60,” he explained.

    Nair pointed out that ALT Balaji is aiming for the 25 million cable and satellite audiences (of the total of 165 million Indian C&S homes) which are lapsing from Naagin kind of content.

    “There is this giant world which between Narcos (on Netflix) and Naagin which is what we are going after,” he said. “The premium subscription homes. These 25 million folks are spending between Rs 1,000 to Rs 2,000 a month for telephony, television and entertainment. They will be spending Rs 600 more a month more in the next five years. That’s a $3 billion market. “

    According to Nair, Bollywood has been pushing the envelope with its eye on this audience. “It produces a Sultan and a Dangal and it also makes  a Pink, Kapoor & Sons and also makes Neerja. Television has not done that, and  it remains currently in the giant mass base. And therein lies the opportunity.”

    At commercial launch, ALT will showcase about 60-80 hours of content; the target is to finally have 300 hours for users to binge on.  He revealed that Balaji Telefims  will be making 30 per cent of those shows for ALT Balaji  while the remainder have been farmed out to outside producers. Each series will be between 12-15 episodes, with each episode being between 12-15 -18 to 22 minutes long.

    “Users will get to watch the first two to five episodes free,” he highlighted. “And if you like what you have seen, you will have to pay us a little bit of money. That is Rs 60 a month.”

    Nair also revealed that the ALT  business model has three years of losses written in to build its audience base and turn in profits.

    “Our focus is on the digital platform because it is going to build a genuine B2C business for us. It will be a consistent business.  Our costs are consistent for content whether we have a million subscribers or 10 million on ALT. So it can be from Rs 400 crore to RS 4,000 crore depending on how we scale up.  Films show  a wobble. TV is our core business and it continues. However, it is getting commoditised and we will continue to produce TV shows whether for DD or private satellite channels. But digital has the potential to be a game changer. It is our big play.”

    Nair also took an indirect dig at the oodles of money that is being used to create content by those rushing into the video on demand segment. “There’s a lot of noise about the big players, the broadcasters. And all the money that is going to be spent,” he explained. “ But we all know that the amount of money spent is not equal to how good a story is. You can spend a billion dollars to make something; you can spend a billion dollars to make a turkey.  We at Balaji are really focused on the story telling.  And that’s where our advantage lies.”

    Also Read :

    Alt Balaji ropes in Manav Sethi as CMO

    Ekta ties up with Lemon Advisors for Alt Balaji global launch

    Balaji to invest Rs 200 cr in ALT, launch in Jan ’17

     

  • No plan to turn AIR, DD into corporate entities

    No plan to turn AIR, DD into corporate entities

    NEW DELHI: The government is not considering any proposal to make Doordarshan and All India Radio as separate corporate entities, the Parliament was told.

    Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting Rajyavardhan Rathore said that the two organisations are being professionalised in accordance with the recommendations of the Sam Pitroda Committee submitted three years ago.

    He said that a panel of secretaries had been set up to examine the report and suggest other ways to modernise the organisations. But, the panel had not submitted any report so far, Rathore said.

    (Prasar Bharati Board had set up committees earlier to go into the various recommendations of the Sam Pitroda Committee and some action has already been initiated, Ministry sources told indianteleision.com.)

    Prasar Bharati was established as an autonomous corporation on 23 November 1997 under the Prasar Bharati (Broadcasting Corporation of India) Act 1990. The Act provided full functional autonomy to Prasar Bharati. The general superintendence, direction and management of Prasar Bharati is vested in the Prasar Bharati Board which exercises all powers and does all acts and things on behalf of the Corporation, as enshrined in the Act including disciplinary and full supervisory powers over its employees.

    Prasar Bharati being the public broadcaster has been mandated to organize and conduct public broadcasting services with the intent to inform, educate and entertain the public. Since Public Broadcasting is largely non-commercial, the Government continues to financially support Prasar Bharati.

    Also Read:

    Expedite Prasar CEO appointment, govt urged

    Budget ’17: Prasar Bharati grant-in-aid down, film sector’s aid up

    Overhaul and strengthening of DD in full swing

  • FreeDish’s first e-auction after upgradation in Mar

    FreeDish’s first e-auction after upgradation in Mar

    NEW DELHI: A new era begins for Doordarshan’s free to air direct to home platform FreeDish as it takes the first major step to mark towards its target of 104 television channels by March end with its 32nd e-auction which will help it cross the existing capacity of eighty channels.

    With MPEG4 under final trials and existing channels having received extensions for their licences, the next e-auction of DD FreeDish is slated for 14 February 2017.

    With this new leap, DD has also raised its reserve price to Rs 48 million per slot from the hitherto Rs 43 million. Earlier, the price for one channel went up to Rs 53 million and gave DD the confidence to raise the pricem which had been Rs 37 million till 2015 but was raised to Rs 43 million for the 25th e-auction in January 2016.

    The e-Auction will be conducted by M/s. C1 India Pvt. Ltd., Noida which also conducted the FM Radio Phase III auctions on behalf of Prasar Bharati.   

    DD refused to disclose the number of slots being put up for e-auction as officials claim this leads to unhealthy practices.

    Doordarshan had in October last year formally announced that FreeDish was capable of carrying 104 television channels and 24 channels would be added to the existing 80 channels after the launch of MPEG4 technology.

    While three new channels were added in an auction held over two days in mid-October, another 24 got their licences renewed for a year. DD officials also confirmed that FreeDish will soon be capable of carrying up to 250 channels.

    In line with the ‘Digital India’ and ‘Make in India’, DD has decided to implement Indian CAS (iCAS) on DD FreeDish Platform. iCAS (which is an initiative of the central government) is being introduced in 24 MPEG-4 channels. The introduction of iCAS will provide enhanced viewing experience.

    DD officials said these additional 24 MPEG-4 SDTV channels will be available to viewers in FTA mode. The existing viewers will continue to get 80 SDTV channels, but will have to obtain iCAS-enabled authorised set-top boxes for accessing all 104 channels.

    Although FreeDish will remain free to air with no monthly or periodic fee, the viewers will be required to register with DD FreeDish on getting the new STB from Doordarshan authorised STB dealers.

    Slots on DD FreeDish are allocated to private channels through a transparent system of e-auction. DD earned Rs 980 million in 2014-15, Rs 1800 million in 2015-16, and Rs 1040 million till September in 2016-17. The 31st auction brought Rs 1293 million In October 2016.

    FreeDish was launched with a modest bouquet of 33 channels in December 2004, and now carries eighty TV channels and 32 radio channels. This includes 22 Doordarshan channels and two parliamentary channels, seven general entertainment channels, 18 movie channels, 13 news channels, seven music channels, three religious channels and eight channels of other genres. All All India Radio stations also piggy-back on the platform.

    The participation amount (EMD) in the e-Auction is Rs.15 million which has to be deposited in advance before or by 12 noon on the date of auction along with processing fee of Rs.10,000 (non-refundable) in favour of PB (BCI) Doordarshan Commercial Service, New Delhi.

    Incremental amount for the auction will be Rs one million and the time for every slot e-auction will be of fifteen minutes duration. This may be extended by five minutes if a bid is received before the closing time.

    Of the reserve price, Rs 11 million will be deposited within one month of placement and another Rs 11 million within two months along with service tax of 15 per cent on the bid amount.

    The balance bid amount will be deposited within six months, failing which the deposited amount will be forfeited and the channel discontinued after a 21-day discontinuation notice.

    DD officials said implementation of iCAS and authorisation of STB original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) by Doordarshan will give a major thrust to ‘Make in India’ and ‘Digital India’. At present, a majority of STBs are imported. However, the introduction of iCAS will help in standardisation of STBs and encourage quality STB manufacturing in India.

    Also read:

    FreeDish ready to beam 104 TV channels; 24 on MPEG4   

    Three new TV channels join DD FreeDish bouquet; 24 get extension

    Next FreeDish auction after MPEG4 operationalisation