ITV

Tag: Prasar Bharati

  • DD Kashir channel packaging bids invited by 29 June

    NEW DELHI: Doordarshan has invited applications for an agency to undertake the channel packaging work for its channel, DD Kashir. The last date for filing e-tenders is 29 June (3pm). The technical bids will be opened on 30 June 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 websites.

    Doordarshan had invited similar tenders in April. However, following suggestions, it has issued notice for a new tender in which it has made changes, primarily relating to the modes of payment.

    DD Kashir is a 24×7 satellite Channel of Doordarshan. The channel was launched in the year 2003. It is planned to bring fresh content on DD Kashir to showcase richness, variety and diversity of the local culture. The channel’s USP will be to attract young people of Jammu & Kashmir.

    For those wishing to file tenders, it is necessary to register with a valid ID and password. Activation of registration may take 24 hours or more subject to the submission of all relevant documents required in the process, Doordarshan said. The bids will be opened in the Prasar Bharati office in Delhi.

    The tender document is available for Rs 5,000 (non-refundable) and there will be a processing fee of Rs 25,000 (non-refundable). The earnest money deposit (EMD) is Rs 600,000. The EMD of the unsuccessful bidders will be returned after 90 days of award of contract and that of successful bidders will be returned after acceptance of work order and submission of Performance Bank Guarantee.

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

    Earlier this month, Doordarshan invited proposals for telecast of programmes under the Commissioning category in 11 different categories for DD Kashir. All proposals have to be submitted by 27 June 2017. Although producers can submit more than one proposal, each proposal will be accompanied with a non-refundable processing fee of 25,000 in a bank draft.

    A show reel of the work done earlier by the producer up to 10 minutes will be mandatory for consideration of any proposal. According to an announcement on the Doordarshan website, Prasar Bharati is making special efforts in Jammu and Kashmir to promote and nurture talent, provide a platform to deserving producers/artists from Jammu & Kashmir as well as from outside to encourage production of better programmes for Doordarshan viewers.

  • Doordarshan slots Rafi, Kishore & Lata tribute show from Sat

    NEW DELHI: Just over six months since Doordarshan declared the results of the prime time auctions for DD National in December, the first of these programmes is finally all set to go on air. Commencing on 24 June, the unique music reality show ‘Suron ka Eklavya’ will be telecast every Saturday and Sunday from 8 pm to 9 pm.

    The show has been produced by the multifaceted media company Saaibaba Telefilms which had won slots, as did Balaji Telefilms.

    While Balaji won four slots, Saai Baba Telefilms bagged two. Saai won the bids for 7.30 pm to 8 pm from Monday to Friday, and 8 pm to 9 pm on Saturday and Sunday. As the RFP (request for proposal) document had made it clear that no party could bid for more than three slots in a week, DD sources told indiantelevision.com that Balaji had to surrender one of the slots it won in the bid.

    ‘Suron ka Eklavya’ will mark a tribute to the three pillars of playback singing – the legendary — Mohammed Rafi, Kishore Kumar, and Lata Mangeshkar with gharanas named after them.

    The concept of the show is to present the gems of Bollywood music from the golden period of Hindi music with fresh voices retaining the signature style of the legends. The weekly show will feature the best of the industry and will engage the audience with spell bound music, anecdotes, interaction with judges and much more.

    The show has a mixed bag of young talent, veterans from the fraternity, and stunning sets making it visually appealing. The contestants will be groomed and nurtured for their future music careers by celebrity mentors.

    While there are many music reality shows, Suron ka Ekalavya is expected to stand out with its innovative and unique format, details of which will be revealed soon. Link for the trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qWZ8lnQZbJg

    In the auctions held and for which results were announced in the second week of December last, no bids were received for three slots: 10 pm to 10.30 pm and 10.30 to 11 pm from Monday to Thursday and the 7pm to 8 pm slot on Sunday.

    After two failures at auctions in 2016, Doordarshan had after a Prasar Bharati Board meeting in October last announced a series of concessions once the programmers come on board, including lowering base price for a 30-minute slot to Rs. 150,000.

    Earlier this slot had been fixed at Rs 250.000 when the auction was first announced in June last year and was further decreased to Rs 200,000 when the new date was set for a second auction in early September 2016.

    Producers/production houses that have produced at least 200 hours of general entertainment programming, including feature film productions in any Indian language in the last three years, and have a turnover of minimum Rs 30 million per annum in the field of TV and film production in the last three financial years are eligible to apply.

    Applicants for weekend slots in the genres of reality, game and quiz were required to have produced 100 hours of such content in the last three years. However, DD sources said that certain changes had been made for successful bidders to promote their programmes.

    Successful bidders will now also be allowed to approach and obtain advertisements from public service undertaking for their programmes on Doordarshan, which was not permitted earlier. Doordarshan has also laid down a compulsory number of promotional commercials, which will be free, on various channels of Doordarshan network.

    In addition, successful bidders will be allowed to ‘bank’ their free commercial time. That is, in case a successful bidder has not exhausted the number of promotional commercials (totalling 240 seconds) permitted before the telecast of a particular programme, the balance can be used as and when the programme picks up in popularity.

    The exit option has also been relaxed: in case a producer decides to opt out of the scheme, he will need to give only 45 days notice instead of three months. The lock-in period for this has also been reduced from one year to six months.

  • Sahu to lead resources & distribution-hit Doordarshan news channels’ repositioning

    MUMBAI: DD India, the Indian pubcaster Doordarshan’s international channel, is prepared to become an English news channel. The bilingual DD News could soon air only Hindi news, PTI reported. However, the Sanskrit programming on DD News would continue.

    The idea and decision of repositioning DD’s key channels were made after Prasar Bharati board’s brainstorming meeting, sources told PTI. The discussion on the two channels was initiated by Prasar chairperson A Surya Prakash.

    After the meeting, the board directed that the channels need to be repositioned soon, and asked Doordarshan director-general Supriya Sahu, and other top officials to work in this regard.

    Owing to paucity of resources, while DD India has struggled to grow up to the level of a leading global channel, DD News has had its own issues. It is a type of hybrid channel, which delivered news in English as well Hindi.

    While many earlier expected that DD India would be ranked with the best of channels, its impact was affected by a combination of factors, including poor distribution and a resource crunch. At the meeting, it was decided that DD India will now be seen in a new form — as an English news and current affairs channel catering to both, domestic and international audience.

    The Prasar board members also came to the conclusion that DD News would be made a Hindi news channel. It was felt that viewership was affected since Hindi and English news bulletins alternate on the channel.

  • New Prasar CEO to leverage DD’s reach & bank on creative content, tech & social media

    MUMBAI: Doordarshan under the new Prasar Bharati CEO Shashi Shekhar Vempati is expected to scale new heights.

    He has some plans up his sleeve. When they are done with restoring the glory of AIR and DD by 2022, other channels would look pale, he told OneIndia.

    The DD network continued to have the widest reach across all channels. Vempati believes the reach was their strength and they would have to build on it to make a difference through creative use of content and innovative use of technology.

    The CEO plans expand the reach and deepen DD’s engagement in social media — so that it is impactful and effective, as a first priority.

    Vempati plans to restore trust in the Prasar Bharati ecosystem across all their stakeholders, especially their external partners and internal.

    The CEO finds it unfortunate that several critical issues had not been addressed resulting in a trust deficit and unnecessary litigation. Vempati plans work closely with all of the Prasar stakeholders to restore trust in their operations, policies and transactions.

    Nostalgia about DD, the new CEO believes, was the starting point for building “Brand Loyalty.” However, to attract and retain viewers, they had to go far beyond nostalgia. He believes they would have to capture the imagination of India’s youth, engage them with compelling content, and become a significant part of their everyday life.

    DD had the responsibility to reflect Indian values, Indian ethos, and the aspirations of a billion plus people. The world deserves to be told the India experience and the India story. The globe, Vempati believes, also needs to hear out to India’s perspective on global events and shifts in geo-politics.

  • Ex-Infosys executive Shashi Shekar Vempati appointed as Prasar Bharati CEO

    NEW DELHI: The executive vacuum at the top of India’s public service broadcaster Prasar Bharati has been filled. A three member committee consisting of India’s vice-president Hamid Ansari, Press Council of India chairman Justice Chandramauli Kumar Prasad and ministry of information & broadcasting secretary Ajay Mittal (representing the President of India) decided to appoint Prasar Bharati part time member and technocrat Shashi Shekar Vempati as its CEO.
     
     The appointment is for a period of five years from the time Vempati assumes charge of his office.
     
    As part time member, Vempati served as chairman of the audit committee, member of finance & accounts committee, technology committee and sports rights committee, apart from HR committee.
     
    An alumnus of the Indian Institute of Technology in Mumbai, Vempati has over two decades of experience as a technocrat with specialization in corporate management, technology consulting and digital media.
     
    He also served for more than 16 years with Infosys as product strategist and digital innovator in North America. He has two patents in his name: real time business event monitoring, tracking and execution architecture” and “system and method of monitoring and management of inventory of products and assets in real time”.:.

    He spent three years as CEO of Niti Digital and was responsible for the News Media Platform NitiCentral.com – India’s first center right digital news media platform, the data and analytics platform IndiaVotes.com – India’s largest public database of electoral data and the digital campaign platform India272.com which played a pivotal role for Narendra Modi’s Mission 272+ during the 2014 Indian general elections.
     
    He has authored many books including ‘Broadcasting Technologies in India’, ‘National Digital Security Architecture in India’, and ‘Creating a Global Media Platform out of India.”
     
    Earlier in February this year, Prasar Bharati chairman Surya Prakash wrote to the government to expedite the selection for a new CEO and member (personnel) in the pubcaster.
     
    A high-level committee headed by Vice President Hamid Ansari has to – as per protocol – meet to select a new CEO and other members.
    .
    The previous CEO Jawhar Sircar resigned prematuredly (his terms was to end in February 2017) with effect from 4 November 2016. Since then, two different officials – member (finance) Rajeev Singh and before him then member personnel Suresh C Panda (since retired) held interim charge of the post.
     

  • DD may seek mythological serial producers at ‘premium,’ plan to revive epic dramas under way

    MUMBAI: With the direction of the ministry of information and broadcasting ministry for concentrating on quality programmes as reconfirmed by the union minister Venkaiah Naidu in Chennai, Prasar Bharati seems to have fastened its belt.

    Pubcaster Doordarshan, with the aim increasing its TRPs (television rating points), has decided to telecast golden oldies — Mahabharat and Ramayan kind of mega serials. These mega-serials were not telecast in the past several years.

    By airing mega serials based on Indian mythology, Prasar Bharati hopes that Doordarshan will gain significant revenue as there is a ready market for such serials which had been money-spinners for Doordarshan. Although a number of private television channels had been trying to follow the Doordarshan formula of telecasting serials based on Indian mythology, they had been unable to generate the kind of following that the pubcaster had had.

    The national broadcaster may to seek proposals for production of serials based on “Indian mythological” themes, sources said. The Prasar Bharati board meanwhile is planning to increase the commissioning fees of serials. Because, sources said, under the prevailing rates, attracting big production houses for developing content for mega serials is remote.

    Owing to the tremendous popularity of the mega serials on Doordarshan, a number of actors such as Arvind Trivedi, Deepika Chikliya and Nitish Bharadwaj were voted to power by the electorate.

    Also Read :

    Chennai DD upgrade under way, Rs 15-cr HD studio to be operational in ’17-18

    Arasu licence for ‘affordability’, pvt MSOs concern to be studied, says Naidu

    DD FreeDish auction next week, reserve price is Rs 80 million

    DTH & cable gap being tapped by FTAs like FreeDish, DTT to reach 60 cities: Naidu

     

  • Reducing targets no solution, Prasar Bharati needs to lead

    NEW DELHI: The utilisation of Internal and Extra Budgetary Resources for New Content Development Scheme of Prasar Bharati generated by Prasar Bharati during the entire 12th Five Year Plan shows that the expenditure made was more than the revenue generated during 2014-15 and 2015-16, a Parliamentary Committee has noted.

    The Committee noted that the expenditure made during 2015-16 through IEBR has exceeded the net revenue generated by Prasar Bharati on account of lower revenue generation. The net revenue generated by Prasar Bharati had declined from Rs 12.6712 billion in 2015-16 to Rs 8.5733 billion in 2016-17.

    Gross Budgetary Support may replace IEBR for content development

    Noting that this is mainly on account of increasing expenditure on Other Administrative Expenditure (OAE) head, the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Information Technology which also examines issues relating to Information and Broadcasting Ministry noted that the Government is considering a proposal for earmarking Gross Budgetary Support (GBS) for this scheme.

    The IEBR for the Scheme was approved by erstwhile Planning Commission for the Twelfth Plan Period (2012-2017) only, the Committee was informed.

    It was also told that the Ministry had made sincere efforts to reduce the OAE expenditure which had declined during 2016-17.

    But the Committee took “serious note” of the fact that the Ministry was not able to achieve the gross revenue projections during the entire 12th Five Year Plan and had reduced its gross revenue projection in 2016-17 citing reasons that falling short of achieving the set target was affecting the morale of the sales/marketing teams and therefore proving counter-productive.

    AIR shows growth trend, DD shows decline in commercial revenues

    When the Committee asked why the net revenue generation by Prasar Bharati had been declining since 2014-15, it was informed by the Ministry that the trend of Commercial revenue earnings of All India Radio is indicating growth whereas the revenue earnings from sharing of its Resources mainly with private radio operators are marginally declining.

    This shortfall of revenue took place in 2016-17 due to shifting of rotation of issuing of invoices to financial year 2017-18 for 84 private FM Channels due to the process adopted in getting technical/site clearances for 84 channels and handing over the same to M/s BECIL/Private FM Broadcasters.

    However in Doordarshan, the main factors of decline in revenue are stated to be tremendous increase in competition in advertisement with private entertainment channels, development of new media platforms etc.

    Some formidable steps have been taken by Prasar Bharati to improve its revenue like auctioning of time slots on DD-National channel; strengthening of sales and marketing teams of AIR and Doordarshan, including induction of sales/marketing professionals; tie-ups with e-commerce sites for better monetisation of AIR/DD archive products etc.

    IEBR not going towards salary

    The Committee also noted that Prasar Bharati was not spending its IEBR on excess paid for salary and excess paid for Plan Schemes since 2015-16. This is because the Cabinet decision of 14 September 2012 had said that the Government is to provide support to Prasar Bharati for meeting 100% expenses towards salary and salary related expenses. In addition to this, the Cabinet decided that the Government would provide funds in the form of Grant-in-Aid to Prasar Bharati for creation of Capital Assets.

    MIB asked to strengthen marketing to compete with private channels

    The Committee was of the opinion that considering the broad mandate of the Ministry, “reducing gross revenue projections will not solve the purpose and the Ministry needs to raise the bar of its sales and marketing teams so that the public broadcaster can sustain vis-à-vis private channels.”

    In the light of the challenges faced by AIR and DD in the fast changing media developments, the Committee recommended that Prasar Bharati continue with their efforts of revenue generation and also frame a strategy to lead the competition as a public broadcaster.

    The Committee also recommended that steps be taken by Prasar Bharati to digitalise the vast archives of AIR and DD and generate revenue by making use of the rich archives. Efforts should also be made towards making these archives more accessible to the public. The Committee said it would like to be informed about the decision taken in respect of financing New Content Development Scheme of Prasar Bharati.

  • Govt denies cartelisation in Prasar Bharati, 724 complaints against MIB in ’16

    NEW DELHI: Even as corruption complaints against government departments rose by a whopping 67 per cent in 2016 over the previous year, the Government has denied any case of cartelisation in the tendering process of Prasar Bharati including All India Radio and Doordarshan.

    DD recently floated tenders for DD Kashir and Arun Prabha, apart from tenders for Indian Conditional Access system for its DTH platform FreeDish.

    Corruption complaints rose by 67 per cent, the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) has stated in its annual report tabled in the Parliament recently. The CVC noted that a total of 724 complaints were registered against the information and broadcasting ministry in 2016.

    The information and broadcasting minister M Venkaiah Naidu, however, told the Parliament that Prasar Bharati, including Doordarshan, is adopting a fair and transparent system for the tendering process.

    Naidu added that Prasar Bharati had informed the MIB that it was following the rules and  procedures based on the Government guidelines including General Financial Rules (GFR) and Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) guidelines.

    Doordarshan had floated a tender for selecting an agency for channel packaging work for DD Kashir. The last date of submission of bids is 19 April 2017 afternoon. The tenders for technical bids will be opened on 20 April in the afternoon.

    DD Kashir programmes are beamed from Srinagar. An official of DD also denied reports that DD Urdu programmes were being used in DD Kashir.

    Earlier this month, Doordarshan invited applications for an agency to undertake the channel packaging work for its new northeast channel, DD Arunprabha. The last bid date is 1 May 2017.

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

    Also, five companies including two from Delhi were earlier shortlisted as original equipment manufacturers for set-top boxes for Doordarshan’s FreeDish on the Indian Conditional Addressable System (iCAS). The manufacturers are: Modern Communications and Broadcast Systems of Gandhinagar in Gujarat; Velankani Electronics of Bangalore; BGM Holding of Ghaziabad; and KMTS Engineering and Millennium Technology, both from Delhi. The technology of iCAS has been designed by ByDesign of Bangalore.

    Also Read:

    DD Arunprabha: Bids invited for channel packaging

    DD Kashir packaging agency tenders floated

    FreeDish iCAS STB:  Modern Comm, Velankani, BGM, KMTS & Millennium OEMs shortlisted

  • DD Kisan viewership is 7.2m a month, received Rs 800m govt funds for 17-18

    NEW DELHI: A sum of Rs 1.2225 billion was released from 2014-15 to 2016-17 to Prasar Bharati by the information and broadcasting ministry for Dordarshan Kisan Channel.

    The total fund allocated for 2017-18 is Rs 800 million, the minister of state for information and broadcasting Rajyavardhan Rathore has told the Parliament.

    Fund allocated to DD Kisan are:

     

    2014-15

    2015-16

    2016-17

    260 million.

    262.5 million.

    700 million.

     

     

    The annual operating cost incurred by the channel in the year 2014-15 is Rs.231.1  million. .

     

    DD Kisan was launched in May, 2015. The source of revenue is commercial advertisements aired during the programme. The revenue earned by DD Kisan other than government funding, since its launch from May, 2015 is:

     

    Period

    Revenue

        April, 2015 to March 2016

    Rs 14 million

        April, 2016 to February 2017

    Rs 19 million

    In reply to another question, he said DD Kisan has introduced two daily News Bulletins at 1:30 pm and at 07:00 pm.

    The channel continuously receives feedback from its viewers. There is a daily one hour live interactive programme “Hello Kisan”. The farmers can call on the toll free line to ask questions to experts or give their opinion. The channel takes their reactions for improvising the content.

    A number of field based shows and programmes are also planned. There is a direct communication at grass root level with the channels’ representatives. The social media links such as web, Facebook and Twitter are also prominently displayed on the channel so that viewers can give their suggestions. Feedback/suggestions, as available, are regularly analysed for improving the programmes and content on the Kisan Channel.

    These programmes are produced continuously depending upon the requirement of the channel. There is no proposal at present to translate the programme in other regional languages.

    Answering another question, he said Doordarshan telecasts agriculture programmes through its network on National Channels as well as other DD regional channels.

    DD Kisan is available throughout the country. As a new initiative, a daily programme titled “Uttar Purvi Rajyon Se” has been scheduled which contains programmes from North Eastern states in their respective languages.

    Viewership of DD Kisan channel according to data received from Broadcast Audience Research Council is an average 7.2 million per month.

    : :

    Average Monthly Viewership (in million)

           Market: All India

    Month

    DD Kisan

    January      2016

    8.8

    February     2016

    15.3

    March         2016

    7.3

    April            2016

    6.7

    May             2016

    4.3

    June            2016

    4.5

    July             2016

    5.6

    August        2016

    6.4

    September  2016

    7.1

    October       2016

    8.2

    November   2016

    5.5

    December   2016

    5.8

    January       2017

    7.3

    February     2017

    7.3

    Average

    7.2

  • DD ad budget crosses Rs 33 million at fag end of 2016-17

    NEW DELHI: Doordarshan has released an additional Rs 216,000 for advertising and publicity taking the total revised estimate to Rs 33.796 million, just as the financial year 2016-17 coming to a close.

    In an order of 30 March 2017, DD Directorate General approved the release of Rs 38.8 million for 71 units against a total demand of over Rs 57.6 million.

    Intially allocated Rs 47.58 million for the year for advertising and publicity, the field unit had surrendered a sum of Rs 14 million earlier.

    However, the additional sum was given to meet exigency expenses.

    The amount was given against the non-plan and Internal and Extra-budgetary Resources of Prasar Bharati.

    Earlier, stressing that revenue generation is not the main objective of Prasar Bharati, the Parliament was told that the pubcaster is generating its revenue through Internal Extra Budgetary Resources (IEBR) to meet its operating expenses.

    Minister of state for information and broadcasting Rajyavardhan Rathore said in reply to a question that the government was providing 100 per cent salary support to Prasar Bharati, apart from plan grant for creation of capital assets and content development.