ITV

Tag: Prasar Bharati

  • FreeDish aims to reach 150 channels, earned Rs 3 bn in a year

    NEW DELHI: Doordarshan earned revenue of Rs 2.5356 billion during 2016-17 from e-auctions of television slots on its free to air Free Dish direct-to-home platform. In comparison, DD had earned Rs 1.8034 billion in 2015-16, the minister of state for information and broadcasting Rajyavardhan Rathore told the Parliament.

    Rathore said the last e-auction – the 32nd e-Auction – on 14 February 2017 fetched Rs. 655 million. Despite the reserve price of Rs 48 million, the highest bid for a slot was Rs 73 million for Sony Pal.

    Meanwhile, Doordarshan sources told indiantelevision.com that FreeDish earned Rs 2.8665 billion through auction of 54 slots in six auctions from 30 March 2016 to 14 February 2017.

    Explaining the differential between the figure given by the Minister and that given by DD, these sources said as money was paid in installments within six months of the e-auction, the figure given in the Parliament was the money actually received.

    The reserve price in the first five auctions was Rs 43 million and was raised to Rs 48 million in the 32nd auction.

    A new era begun with the adoption of MPEG4 helping FreeDish take the first major step to mark towards its target of 104 television channels by March end with its 32nd e-auction which helped it cross the capacity of eighty channels. Having touched the figure of 104 with its 32nd Auction, DD is now holding another auction on 11 April in as part of its aim to reach the figure of 150 by the middle of the year.

    With this new leap, DD had also raised its reserve price to Rs 48 million per slot from the hitherto Rs 43 million for the mid-February auction. The reserve price had been Rs 37 million till 2015 but was raised to Rs 43 million for the 25th e-auction in January 2016.

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

    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.

    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. DD earned Rs 980 million in 2014-15, Rs 1800 million in 2015-16, and Rs 1040 million till September in 2016-17.

    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.

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

    NEW DELHI: Even as the government admits to shortage of staff in the public service broadcaster Prasar Bharati, there is a need to re-assess actual requirement of staff keeping in view changes in broadcast technologies.

    Minister of state for information and broadcasting Rajyavardhan Rathore told the Parliament that Prasar Bharati has been advised to carry out a Manpower Audit to identify posts actually needed to be filled up.

    However, he said that limited recruitment has been undertaken as a special dispensation through Staff Selection Commission for critical Group ‘B’ and ‘C’ vacancies which were revived by the Government. In addition, special recruitment drive for filling up of backlog vacancies of Persons with Disabilities has also been carried out in Prasar Bharati.

    No plans to regularise contractual workers

    In reply to another question, the minister said there was no plan at present to regularise contractual workers in Prasar Bharati, Doordarshan, or All India Radio. He said Prasar Bharati has 38, Doordarshan has 749 and AIR has 196 contractual workers.

    These contractual workersare engaged for various categories of work such as news dissemination, programme generation, legal assistance, marketing, computers/ IT consultancy etc, both for AIR and DD, according to requirement.

    The number of casual announcers and casual comperes in various stations of All India Radio is 9722 and 4108, respectively. The casual announcers and comperes are engaged by the stations on assignment basis for a maximum of 6 bookings in a month up to a maximum of 72 days in a year, solely to meet the requirement of adding variety and interest to the programmes for which engagement on regular basis is not justified/ needed.

  • House panel pans MIB for funds under-use in plan schemes

    NEW DELHI: The ministry of information and broadcasting (MIB) needs to strengthen its monitoring mechanism by way of periodic review and mid-term appraisal of all major Schemes and undertake necessary corrective measures for proper implementation of Schemes and full utilisation of funds made available to them.

    The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Information Technology which also examines issues relating to Information and Broadcasting Ministry has made this comment while noting that the Ministry is hopeful that the link between spending and outcome will improve and the total expenditure would become more focused with the dispensing of the distinction of Plan and non-Plan allocation from 2017-18.

    The Committee has taken note of the new initiatives taken for rational allocation of funds and trust that the strategic intervention would reverse the trend and help in prudent and optimal utilisation of funds in the current fiscal.

    In its comments with regard to utilisation of the Twelfth Five Year Plan Funds, the Committee noted that the Ministry has on an average utilised 96 percent of Revised Estimates (RE) during the first four years of 12th Five Year Plan (2012-13 to 2015-16).

    The performance of the Ministry with regard to financial targets shows that during the entire Twelfth Five Year Plan (2012-17), the Ministry has been able to utilise Rs 34.8945 billion against the revised estimated allocation of Rs 37.78 billion.

    As against the proposed outlay of Rs 217.31 billion, the erstwhile Planning Commission had approved Gross Budgetary Support (GBS) of Rs 75.83 billion for the Twelfth Five Year Plan (2012-17) for the Ministry.

    Further, a provision of Rs 10 billion had been kept for Internal and Extra Budgetary Resources (IEBR) by Prasar Bharati for financing New Content Development Scheme of Prasar Bharati for the Twelfth Five Year Plan (2012-17).

    Thus, a total outlay of Rs 85.83 billion had been approved for funding the various Plan Schemes of the Ministry during the Twelfth Plan Period. In each of these years, the Budget allocation to the Ministry was substantially reduced at the RE stage.

    This trend however changed during the year 2016-17 where the Budget allocation has actually increased from Rs.8 billion at budget estimate (BE) stage to Rs.8.6 billion at RE stage and the utilisation of funds was 80 percent as on 21 February 2017.

    Overall, the Committee noted that despite the Ministry’s efforts to improve plan expenditure and optimise allocation in the Plan Schemes, there have been under utilisation of funds.

    The reasons attributed for sub-optimal utilisation relate to finalisation of RE 2016-17 (Plan) in January 2017, long procurement process of Prasar Bharati for procurement of goods and services and delay in approval of the new Schemes under the three sectors.

    Noting that the reasons are found to be repetitive and certainly give an impression that the Ministry has failed to bring in the desired administrative efficiency and fiscal planning over the years, the Committee expressed the hope that the procurement process of Prasar Bharati will be streamlined expeditiously.

    Also Read :

    Ensure full use of funds for schemes, house panel tells MIB

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

     

  • 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.

  • Ensure full use of funds for schemes, house panel tells MIB

    NEW DELHI: The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB) needs to “make earnest efforts to bring improvement in their overall performance and ensure full utilization of funds provided for various schemes”, a Parliamentary Committee has said.

    The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Information Technology, which also examines issues relating to MIB has said that it “would like to be specifically apprised of the improvement effected as a result of policy shift in allocation of funds in the current year”.

    The committee which examined the demands for grants for the year 2017-18 noted that this was particularly important “considering the fact that the Ministry is mandated to have a wide outreach to various sections of society”.

    It noted that as far as utilisation for the year 2016-17 is concerned, the actual expenditure of the Ministry stands at Rs 539.04 billion till 6 February 2017 as against the revised estimates of Rs 860 billion. Thus, the committee noted that, while on the one hand, the Ministry is unable to utilise the budgetary allocations, it has cited want of funds as reason for slow pace of implementation of the Plan schemes.

    The Budget (2017-18) of the Ministry shows that an amount of Rs 440.9 billion has been allocated to the Ministry that is 5.96 per cent higher than the last year’s budget allocation of Rs 408.363 billion.

    With the abolition of plan and non-plan classification from financial year 2017-18, the allocation has been made under revenue and capital section, which is further classified into three categories, namely, (a) establishment expenditure of the Centre, (b) central sector schemes and (c) other central expenditure, including those in central public sector enterprises and autonomous bodies.

    Out of the budgetary allocation of Rs 440.9 billion during the year 2017-18, Rs 495.74 billion has been earmarked for establishment expenditure of the centre; Rs 840 billion is for central sector schemes and Rs 307.326 billion is for other central expenditure, including those in central public sector enterprises and autonomous bodies.

    There is a change in the Internal and Extra Budgetary Resource (IEBR) for new development scheme of Prasar Bharati approved by the erstwhile Planning Commission (now revamped as Niti Ayog) for the Twelfth Plan Period (2012-2017).

    The sectoral allocation of the Ministry shows that Rs 4.53 billion has been allocated to the broadcasting sector of which Rs 4.3 billion is meant for Prasar Bharati. An allocation of Rs 1.8 billion has been made to information sector, which is less than the RE allocation of Rs. 2.5638 billion made in the last year.

    This year the government intends to spend a total amount of Rs 2.07 billion on film sector, up from Rs 1.4148 billion last year. There are three schemes for which the allocation has been increased substantially:

    1: The budgetary allocation has been increased from Rs 70 million in budget estimates 2016-17 to Rs 220 million in BE 2017-18, under the sub-scheme “infrastructure development in Satyajit Ray Film and Television Institute of India” of the scheme “infrastructure development programme relating to film sector”.

    2: The budgetary allocation has been increased from Rs 51 million in BE 2016-17 to Rs 600 million in BE 2017-18 under the scheme of setting up a Centre of Excellence for Animation, Gaming and VFX (Main Secretariat)” and

    3: The budgetary allocation has been increased from Rs 300 million in BE 2016-17 to Rs 500 million in BE 2017-18 under the Scheme of “National Film Heritage Mission” to restore and preserve India’s rich cinematic resources.

  • Naidu concerned over stereotypical portrayal of women

    NEW DELHI: Information and broadcasting minster M Venkaiah Naidu expressed concern over the stereotypical portrayal of women in movies which led to increased objectification.

    The minister said media should play a greater role in informing women about their rights and Nari Shakti programmes should be encouraged across media platforms. It was imperative to draw from the valuable contributions and examples set by great women leaders and intellectuals who have adorned the history of our nation.

    Speaking at the celebration of the 100th episode of the DD News programme Tejaswani devoted to women empowerment at which Minister of State Rajyavardhan Rathore was also present, Naidu said gave another example of media playing a positive role when he said the #SelfieWithDaughters campaign launched by Prime Minister through his Mann ki Baat on All India Radio became a worldwide phenomenon trending among top five across the world.

    Naidu also felicitated 14 Tejasvini from different walks of life on the occasion. The Minister also inaugurated the Tejaswini YouTube link on the occasion.

    He urged Prasar Bharati to play a vital role in spreading the message of the numerous schemes the government for the girl child, adolescent girl and women. Creating and developing programmes which carried the message, preferably in a subtle manner, of the latent talent and strength women possessed.

    Some iof the Tejasvinis honoured are:  

    1.  Deepa Malik, Paralympic 2017 Silver Medalist

    2.  Pandita Anuradha Pal, World’s First Woman Professional Tabla Player

    3.  Sonal Mansigh, Bharatnatyam Artiste

    4.  Pragya Ghildiyal, Best Sports person with disabilities

    5.  Santosh Yadav, Mountaineer

  • 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

  • Expedite Prasar CEO appointment, govt urged

    Expedite Prasar CEO appointment, govt urged

    NEW DELHI: Prasar Bharati chairman Surya Prakash has written to the government to expedite the selection of a new CEO and member (personnel) in the pubcaster.

    Prakash told the indiantelevision.com that he had sought from the government to ensure the vacancies are filled soon to facilitate decision-making.

    A high-level committee headed by India’s vice-president Hamid Ansari is needed to meet as stipulated in the Prasar Bharati Act 1990 to select a new CEO and other members.

    Meanwhile, member (finance) Rajeev Singh is scheduled to take over as the interim chief executive officer of the pubcaster from 6 February. He succeeds Suresh C Panda who was the member (personnel) and is due to retire on 4 February.

    The decision was taken at a board meeting held recently in Hyderabad. Panda had been appointed as the acting CEO after Jawhar Sircar demitted office on 4 November.

    Singh, who has been serving Prasar Bharati as member (finance) since April 2015, was previously with Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd in different roles for a little over nine years. Singh is an engineering graduate from Nagpur University and is a post-graduate in business administration from Faculty of Management Studies, University of Delhi.

    Singh’s appointment comes at a time when the public broadcaster is all set to revamp Doordarshan by introducing new prime time programming in February following e-auctions for these slots.

    The information and broadcasting ministry had issued an advertisement, calling applications for the post of member (personnel) and received 56 applications.

  • Expedite Prasar CEO appointment, govt urged

    Expedite Prasar CEO appointment, govt urged

    NEW DELHI: Prasar Bharati chairman Surya Prakash has written to the government to expedite the selection of a new CEO and member (personnel) in the pubcaster.

    Prakash told the indiantelevision.com that he had sought from the government to ensure the vacancies are filled soon to facilitate decision-making.

    A high-level committee headed by India’s vice-president Hamid Ansari is needed to meet as stipulated in the Prasar Bharati Act 1990 to select a new CEO and other members.

    Meanwhile, member (finance) Rajeev Singh is scheduled to take over as the interim chief executive officer of the pubcaster from 6 February. He succeeds Suresh C Panda who was the member (personnel) and is due to retire on 4 February.

    The decision was taken at a board meeting held recently in Hyderabad. Panda had been appointed as the acting CEO after Jawhar Sircar demitted office on 4 November.

    Singh, who has been serving Prasar Bharati as member (finance) since April 2015, was previously with Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd in different roles for a little over nine years. Singh is an engineering graduate from Nagpur University and is a post-graduate in business administration from Faculty of Management Studies, University of Delhi.

    Singh’s appointment comes at a time when the public broadcaster is all set to revamp Doordarshan by introducing new prime time programming in February following e-auctions for these slots.

    The information and broadcasting ministry had issued an advertisement, calling applications for the post of member (personnel) and received 56 applications.

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

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

    NEW DELHI: The grant-in-aid for Prasar Bharati has come down marginally from the revised estimates from Rs 4500 million in 2016-17 to Rs 4300 million for 2017-18.

    This includes a grants-in-aid to the pubcaster of Rs 3500 million and a separate grant-in-aid to it for the Kisan Channel of Rs 800 million which is higher than last year’s Rs 600 million.

    In addition, there is support of Rs 29,967 million for 2017-18 against Rs 27,168.6 million in 2016-17 in the allocation of support to autonomous bodies. But, there is no investment in the head of public sector undertakings in Prasar Bharati, unlike last year.

    An explanatory note says the grants-in-aid is being provided to cover the gap in resources of Prasar Bharati in meeting its revenue expenditure.

    (Expenditure on salaries of Prasar Bharati has fallen on the shoulders of the government since all Prasar Bharati employees who were in employment as on 5 October 2007 have been given deemed deputation status.)

    The total budget of the information and broadcasting ministry has been raised to Rs 44,090 million against Rs 40836.3 million.

    There is a separate allocation of Rs 230 million for strengthening broadcasting activities which covers community radio (Rs 40 million), Electronic Media Centre (Rs 120 million), Mission Digitisation (Rs 50 million) and automation of broadcasting wing (Rs 20 million).

    This is less than last year’s allocation in this head of Rs 308.3 million.

    The allocation for the film sector has been raised to Rs 2070 million, and covers the National Museum of Cinema, Development communication and Dissemination of filmic content, Infrastructure Development Programme relating to the film sector, and Mission/Special projects which gets a massive increase to Rs 1100.1 million as compared to Rs 170.1 million last year. This allocation is for the Umbrella Programme Missions / Special Project includes the following Schemes:

    National Film Heritage Mission (Main Secretariat), Anti-Piracy Initiatives and Setting up a National Centre of Excellence for Animation, Gaming and Special Effects (coming up in Mumbai).

    There is an allocation of Rs 180 million for mass communication which includes upgradation of the Indian Institute of Mass Communication to international standards and opening regional centres of IIMC.

    The allocation under ‘Secretariat – Social services’ has been raised Rs 795.2 million as compared to Rs 703.2 million, and art and culture to Rs 102.3 million. information and publicity gets Rs 4059.9 million for various programmes which include Directorate of Advertising and Visual Publicity; Press Information Bureau, Field Publicity, Song and Drama Division, Publications Division, Photo Division, Registrar of Newspapers in India and other media units.

    After seven years in a row, the government has announced investment in the National Film Development Corporation to the tune of Rs 125.4 million.

    There is a marginal increase in the lump sum provision for projects/schemes for development of North-eastern areas including Sikkim to Rs 842 million against Rs 800 million last year.

    There is an allocation of Rs 30,732.6 million as support to autonomous bodies which apart from Prasar Bharati, also has allocations for the Film and Television Institute of India, Satyajit Ray FTII, Press Council of India, IIMC, and Children’s Film Society, India.