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Tag: Prasar Bharati

  • Doordarshan’s Freedish to switch to an upgraded platform to increase capacity

    Doordarshan’s Freedish to switch to an upgraded platform to increase capacity

    NEW DELHI: Doordarshan’s Freedish, India's only free direct-to-home (DTH) service, is migrating from its old platform to a new upgraded one with effect from midnight of 9 January (12.05 am of 10 January) in its attempt to increase its capacity.

    The migration would result in increase of TV channels from 59 to 64 and radio channels from 22 to 24.

    Prasar Bharati chief executive officer Jawhar Sircar said recently that the pubcaster would have to strengthen its DTH platform, Freedish if it has to survive.

    He had announced in November that Freedish was expected to go up to 112 television channels in the next few months but he had made it clear to the government that while most were coming through e-auctions, some popular channels may have to be ‘attracted’ to join Freedish since satellite television was the future. He said he was not opposed to digital terrestrial transmission but advances in technology may make it obsolete.  

    In fact in a pace that has surprised many, Doordarshan has held 19 e-auctions for Freedish as on 12 December.

    DD Sources also said that while Freedish may be encrypted to keep a tab on the number of subscribers, it would remain free-to-air.

    To access the upgraded platform, the viewers need to edit the Transponder Parameter by changing only the Symbol Rate from 27500 Ksps to 28500 Ksps in four transponders and retune/rescan their Set Top Box to receive the upgraded TV and radio channels.

    Freedish viewers can get further information regarding retuning/rescanning of their Set Top Boxes on DD's official website: ddindia.gov.in

     Viewers/subscribers who do not rescan their Set Top Box will continue to get only ten channels for a period of seven days only from the date of upgradation. Out of these ten channels, one channel is an informative channel which will show detailed procedure for re-tuning the Set Top Boxes.

     

  • Prasar Bharati: A ‘successful’ year gone by

    Prasar Bharati: A ‘successful’ year gone by

    Since 1995, Doordarshan has been trying to build bridges of communication with Indians living abroad and also to showcase its diverse culture, values and rich heritage to the world by launching its international channel.

    From March 2011, Doordarshan started availing of the service of ISRO’s INSAT-4B in both KU band and C band. However, the inadequacy of not being able to locate any significant global partners to distribute and connect DD to homes overseas continued. Doordarshan did make renewed efforts through Indian Missions to distribute its international channel abroad, but it could make little progress in this last mile distribution, because of several reasons. On the other hand, countries like Japan, Germany, China, Russia and France, invested heavily to ensure a global reach for their international channels.

    Over the last one year, concerted efforts made by Prasar Bharati to locate viable global distribution platform to DD India has resulted in an agreement with Deutsche Welle (DW), the international broadcasting arm of the German public broadcaster for a slot on the DTH platform of EUTEL SAT Hotbird 13 B. It is an extremely popular DTH platform and in Europe it was the logical choice for DD India to launch its overseas services afresh. Hotbird 13B has a total number of 1543 TV channels of which 1117 TV channels are free-to-air. A total of 124 English channels are available on this satellite, prominent amongst which are BBC, CNN, CCTV, RT, France24, VOA TV, Euromans, Sky News, Bloomberg TV, Al Jazeera, etc.  DD India will be in the basic package of the DTH service. The projection of India’s viewpoint to the global audience being  a dire necessity, Prasar Bharati has found a suitable platform with DW on extremely favourable terms on reciprocal basis which is no mean achievement.Placing DD on Hotbird DTH platform will also give it full access to the Middle Eastern GCC countries, where Indians work and reside in large numbers. The telecast trials are likely in a few days and formal launching is expected shortly.

    It was a feather in its cap and moment of honour for India when the Prasar Bharati CEO, Jawhar Sircar, was elected as vice president of the Asia Pacific Broadcasting Union (ABU) in 2014 with its presence in 63 countries, boosting its international presence.

    Doordarshan team has come up with new serials in the current year attracting more eye balls in the afternoon session of DD National creating a new record heralding resurgence of the public broadcaster towards fulfilling its mandate with renewed vigour away from market driven commercial initiatives. Meeting the aspirations of the people of Telengana, dedicated DD Yadagiri from Hyderabad and DD Saptagiri channels from Vijayawada for Seemandhra have become fully operational. Other major initiative was upgradation of  four Hindi channels as 24 hours channels as DD Rajasthan, DD Madhya Pradesh, DD Bihar and DD Uttar Pradesh  from the respective capital DD Kendras giving local look and feel enriching  the telecast with regional flavour.  The basic infrastructure to operationalise DD Kisan channel has been put in place by Doordarshan.  Concerted efforts are on to enrich the channel in the coming year meeting the aspirations of all the agro-economic zones with due importance to related fields and provide wholesome content to the agrarian population of the nation.  

    A major decision in 2014 was to optimise the huge advantage of Digital Terrestrial Transmitters from the four metros which are ready and from other important state capitals in cluster with ability to provide a bouquet of 20 attractive TV channels along with a combination of audio channels from each location with perfect digital output reaching the hand held smart devices equipped with tiny dongles or chips which are under field trials already. The technology is capable of live streaming content without buffering and circumventing ‘server down’ possibility fully.

    Doordarshan was in news for amateurish display by some casual assignees  highlighted in media exposed huge vacancies of creative professionals  in Prasar Bharati and absence of a vibrant mechanism to service the HR functions for cadre restructuring, removal of service conditions related anomalies, conduct of regular departmental promotion proceedings, induction and appointment of creative professionals after strict professional evaluation. After Dr Surya Prakash joined as chairman, the proposal for Prasar Bharati Recruitment Board gained impetus and its establishment looks to be on course.

    Prasar Bharati chose to strengthen its popular Vividh Bharati network in the metros by simulcasting in FM mode. While Kolkata has already commenced its operation, other metros are awaiting the launch. AIR’s 86 odd local radio stations across the country have already started simulcasting Vividh Bharati across the nation spicing up AIR’s airwaves in the cause of uniting India.

    Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s monthly Mann ki Baat – a heart-to-heart and intimate sharing of thoughts with the people living in every nook and corner of the country – is a shot in the arm for Prasar Bharati and AIR undoubtedly has emerged a clear winner in reaching the whole nation through all its channels. The programme has received spontaneous response from thousands of listeners spread all over the country including far flung areas. The broadcast has done the vastest disseminated public service through territorial, satellite and web modes.

    While AIR has decided to webcast all primary channels from all its capital Kendras, it has started field trials of its most popular Vividh Bharati as part of its internet bouquet of FM Gold, FM Rainbow and Urdu Service.

    The dream of CEO Jawhar Sircar is to connect the whole of India through FM-station utilising its existing terrestrial towers all over the country for mounting FM antennas and cutting costs and simulcasting its primary service to ride over shortcomings of Medium Wave transmission.

    For Prasar Bharati, creative dynamism has remained a challenge with innumerable competitors in the field. But its new team is optimistic to accomplish its mandate as a national public broadcaster to inform, educate and entertain the masses at home and abroad and achieve conspicuous deliverables in the new year.

    AIR has become the torchbearer of the Prime Minister’s clarion call for ‘Swachh Bharat’ i.e. Clean India mission through its extensive campaign so that it becomes a truly peoples’ movement and the Prime Minister’s dream of clean India by 2019 becomes a reality. To lend support to the mission, AIR launched extensively several programmes on all its channels, in a variety of formats. The objective is to bring about attitudinal changes and behaviour modifications in the way of life of people while making them aware about environmental hygiene and cleanliness.

    Apart from promos, jingles and slogans on the theme, a multi-episode serial in Hindi entitled ‘Des ApnaUjla-Ujla’ has been launched w.e.f. 2 October 2014.

    The yeoman service rendered by All India Radio (Radio Kashmir, Srinagar, Jammu) during the recent devastating deluge, which helped in saving hundreds of lives, connecting families, keeping the morale and spirit high of the population hit by the worst ever natural calamity and prevention of outbreak of epidemics in the aftermath of the disaster, have all come for lavish praise from every quarter including the Chief Minister of J&K and the cabinet secretary to the government of India. AIR’s uninterrupted service during this unprecedented disaster became all the more laudable as all other sources of information like print media and other electronic channels had come to a grinding halt in the State during those trying days.Similarly, AIR’s role in effective disaster management communication during the rescue, relief and rehabilitation operations at the time of recent Hudhud cyclone in the Andhra coast and particularly Vishakhapatnam also won accolades.

    Vividh Bharati, the old faithful, is avidly listened to even today in the face of stiff competition from rival media, especially private FM radio stations. Described as All India variety programme (Akhil Bharatiya Panchrangi Karyakram), it was initially radiated on two high-power shortwave transmitters at Mumbai and Chennai. Later, the service was progressively extended to 37 centres. Today, it is a veritable national service owing to its country-wide reach, with several stations/transmitters carrying the service:-

    • Exclusive/dedicated Vividh Bharati Channels                            37
    • Local Radio Stations (10:00 am to 5:00 pm)                               65
    • 100 Watt FM Relay Centres                                                         82

    Almost all these stations operate on the FM mode. Till recently, in the four metros, the service was available only on the emaciated medium wave transmitters. AIR has recently launched dedicated FM transmitters in the metros as well. Availability of the service on 102 FM transmitters, not to mention the 100 watt FM relay centres, has further enhanced the exposure to Vividh Bharati, owing to proliferation of FM receivers, car radios and mobile devices. To begin with, Vividh Bharati was an urban phenomenon. Today, it is able to penetrate deep into the country side and is an ideal vehicle for those eager to capture the rural markets.

    The fact that Vividh Bharati simultaneously reaches a vast section of people of all hues creates a psychological bond of togetherness, building up cohesion and common values.

    The year 2014 is the 75th anniversary year of external broadcasting in India and the 50th anniversary of its Urdu service. The External Services Division (ESD) is truly the extended arm of foreign policy and public diplomacy. The traditional modes of shortwave and medium wave transmission have been largely replaced during the year by FM and internet radio bringing about a turnaround during the year. The highlights of the revamping of the ESD are:

    1. Enhancing the level of engagement with the MEA particularly the External Publicity/ Public Diplomacy Division on an urgent basis, MEA will carry details of important programmes scheduled for broadcast in the General Overseas Service (GOS), the flagship service of ESD in English as well as other services in their bi-monthly magazine ‘India Perspective’.

    2. Modernisation efforts of ESD like creation and maintenance of multi-media websites with live internet radio and Radio on Demand components. Trial runs for the websites have been completed and GOS has already been informally hosted and ready for launch.

    3. ESD has also created three round-the-clock web radio portals, featuring live streaming of all the services. These have also been tested and ready for formal launch.

    4. With a view to reaching out to the Indian diaspora and involving the PIOs in the development agenda of the nation and making them true brand ambassadors for the country, multi-media websites for the Indian language services of ESD like Hindi, Bangla, Gujarati, Tamil and Urdu are being developed, with content specifically designed to the respective  target areas.

    5. General Overseas Service is targeted to the English speaking listeners all over the world with the exception of USA, Canada, South-America and the Caribbean. To reach these uncovered areas, a dedicated multi-media website ‘airworldservice.org.in’ has been launched during the year. The programmes of GOS are also available on the web radio portal of ESD. A GOS programme on Gandhian Philosophy has recently won the best programme award for the year 2014.

    6. To augment reception quality of cross-border and neighbourhood services targeted to South-East Asia and some countries in the East Asia from Chinsura (West Bengal) and to Pakistan, Afghanistan and some CIS countries from Rajkot, transmitters were upgraded. This will go a long way to support the new initiatives of the Central Government to strengthen its relations and engagement with the countries in the neighborhood and also undertake counter-propaganda and perception management programmes in a more effective manner. 

    • The News Services Division (NSD) of All India Radio is one of the world’s largest news gathering and dissemination apparatus.
    • Harnessing mobile technology, NSD launched free AIR news SMS service to the public in several regional languages viz. Asamese, Dogri, Gujarati, Hindi, Malayalam, Marathi, Nepali, Sanskrit and Tamil, besides English. The number of people registered for the Service has crossed 5 lakhs, with nearly 80% opting for the regional languages.
    • Substantially increased its presence on the social media, reaching out audiences far and wide. Popularity of AIR’s Facebook page can be gauged by the fact that the number of likes increased from 7 lakh in May, 2014 to 17 lakh in November, 2014. 
    • Twitter handle @airnewsalerts is also gaining momentum day by day, from 2,15,000 followers in May, 2014 to 3,70,000 in November, 2014
      • To further strengthen its reach, NSD joined another online audio platform sound cloud in May 2014. Sound cloud is an audio platform which is used in over 200 countries and has a global reach of 317 million per month. Within short span of time, it has become popular and has nearly 5.4 lakh plays so far, with an average of around 20,000 plays and 800 downloads per week.
    • To lend support to the Mann Ki Baat programme, NSD has been carrying content of  the PM’s speech in all bulletins, national as well as regional, the later carrying the regional language version. SMSes, based on the content, are sent in several languages to the people who had registered for the service. A special static home page was created on www.newsonair.nic.in with a link to take people directly to live webcast page of ‘Mann Ki Baat”.  A special window was created for the webcast of the speech, uploading the text of the address on the website. PM’s speech was live tweeted both in Hindi and English simultaneously. What is more, it was posted on Sound Cloud, generating unique plays within a short span of time reflecting its appeal
    • A variety of CDs based on the prized possessions in the treasure trove of AIR’s archives was prepared, released and uploaded on AIR’s Youtube. Significant among these CDs are the audio cuts of Mahatma Gandhi, Bharat Ratna and former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Marian Anderson and Dr. Martin Luther King (Jr.).
    • CDs based on recordings of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel are ready, with refurbishing in its final stage.
    • CD containing recordings on various subjects by Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, Pt. Jawahar Lal Nehru, Dr. Rajendra Prasad, Dr. B. R. Ambedkar, Lal Bahadur Shastri, Dr. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan is being prepared. Refurbishing of these recordings is in final stage.
    • 300 hours (approx.) fresh recording received from AIR stations have been digitized with detailed metadata. 3000 hours (approx.) of archival recordings have been deep archived with detailed metadata in Storage Area Network (SAN).
    • AIR has a humongous network of 590 transmitters serving 414 stations, covering virtually the entire population of the country.
    • Under an ambitious digitalisation programme, 31 old medium wave transmitters and five shortwave transmitters have been replaced by new DRM transmitters.
    • Archival facility was setup at Chennai, Delhi, Hyderabad, Kolkata and Mumbai, facilitating digitalization and restoration work
    • Under the Special Package for J&K and North-East, several new FM transmitters are being installed.
    • Modernization and automation of existing Regional News Units.
    • The dream of Prasar Bharati to connect whole of India through FM-isation, utilising its existing terrestrial towers all over the country for mounting  FM antenna cutting costs and simulcasting its primary service to ride over shortcomings of  medium wave transmission, especially the dwindling number medium wave receivers, is fast becoming a reality through a phased progamme launched by AIR.
    • While AIR has decided to webcast all its primary channels from all its capital sations, it has started live streaming, on a trial basis, to take field trial of its most popular Vividh Bharati service as part of its internet bouquet of FM Gold, FM Rainbow and Urdu Service.  This has helped in taking the service to listeners overseas, especially the Indian diaspora, clamouring for it.

     

    (These are purely personal views of Prasar Bharati principal adviser Brigadier (Retd) VAM Hussain and indiantelevision.com does not necessarily subscribe to these views.)

  • Bangladesh gets archival footage from AIR, DD on Liberation War

    Bangladesh gets archival footage from AIR, DD on Liberation War

    NEW DELHI: Bangladesh President has received the recordings of transmissions made by All India Radio and Doordarshan during the Liberation War of 1971 from President Pranab Mukherjee at Rashtrapati Bhavan.

     

    He recalled that valiant Mukti Bahini soldiers fought hand in hand with Indian troops for Bangladesh’s liberation. He expressed hope that these recordings will remind people of Bangladesh of those momentous times.

     

    Akashvani, especially the Kolkata station, played a critical role in upholding the cause of Bangladesh even before the rest of the world woke up. Unfortunately, most of the broadcast schedule and other interesting programmes were not kept in permanent format as archives because of several constraints. But Akashvani has been able to retrieve several tapes of that period and has already broadcast them for the last many years, to remind both India and Bangladesh of their shared legacy.

     

    At the request of Bangladesh Betar and the special interest of Mukherjee, a renewed effort was made by Prasar Bharati CEO Jawhar Sircar, AIR DG F Sheryaar, and DDG, Akashvani Kolkata to salvage more materials from wherever possible so that whatever is possible is put out in the public domain before both the nations.

     

    Two CDs have thus been produced in the last one month containing recordings from the Akashvani Archives of 1971 and early 1972. They represent the contribution made by Akashvani to the momentous developments of 1971, that led to the War in December, the Vijay Divas and the subsequent commemorations.

     

    The first CD entitled “Liberation of Bangladesh 1971” contains the public speeches from Akashvani Delhi of the then Prime Minister of India and the Lok Sabha statements, interviews and speeches of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the surrender of Pakistani forces on the 16 December, the public address of Rahman in January 1972 and other programmes, that are mainly in Bengali.

     

    The second CD entitled “Struggle of a Nation” is based on the recordings of Akashvani Kolkata, contains documentations of important happenings and events from March to December 1971 and the speeches of the then Prime Ministers of India and new nation of Bangladesh and live commentaries thereof.  It also has the ‘Samvad Bichitra’ newsreel programme that played a pivotal role during the Liberation Movement.

  • Doordarshan automates its commercial operations

    Doordarshan automates its commercial operations

    NEW DELHI: Doordarshan is going full swing on its proposed revamp. And it’s not just the new programming lineup that the pubcaster is looking at.

     

    As reported earlier by indiantelevision.com , DD has been working hard at upgrading its backend services and in the process was looking at moving from its semi-integrated software that handles different departments manually, to Broadcast Air Time Scheduling System (BATS) software, which integrates all the departments online. The software has been provided by Media Nucleus.

     

    In the latest, Doordarshan has officially launched the BATS traffic and billing software which will now connect its Delhi and Mumbai offices. It can be noted that the pubcaster was looking at completing the integration in three phases. “This is the phase I of the process, in which we have integrated Delhi and Mumbai offices. Our aim is to complete the integration of all the 67 kendras by February 2015,” informed Doordarshan deputy director general CK Jain.

       
    The aim of the BATS software is to provide satisfactory services to the pubcaster’s clients and advertising agencies. Inaugurated by Prasar Bharati chairman Dr A Surya Prakash, the application will integrate all the departments of scheduling, sales and billing, which were earlier being handled manually causing delays and several disputes with agencies.

     
    The application will provide an integrated solution for all processes including sales, scheduling, billing and receipts. It is a menu driven enterprise, an ad scheduling and billing software which has been customised to the needs of Doordarshan. It has various modules associated with respective departments involved in ad-scheduling, logging and billing.

     
    The decision of upgrading the backend was taken since Doordarshan with its wide network of kendras and regional channels across the country was facing difficulty to monitor its outstanding revenue initially, as it was done manually.

     

    The chairman appreciating the initiative said, “Doordarshan should have taken this step 10 years ago but nonetheless this would bring much needed fairness and transparency into the system and will improve the overall efficiency and productivity of the organisation. Doordarshan is a media unit and has to function like a professional media unit as its activities are closely watched by all.”  

     
    Once implemented, BATS will bring much needed efficiency into commercial operations. This centrally-monitored software has all the relevant commercial details available on a single webpage for the management to check at one go. It ensures that all the information is relayed in real time across locations and networks.

     

  • Gyandarshan channels off air due to non-payment of dues

    Gyandarshan channels off air due to non-payment of dues

    NEW DELHI: Even as the stalemate continues on the issue of the Gyandarshan channels of the Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU), the Government has said that these channels do not have clearance from Wireless Planning Coordination (WPC) of the Communications & IT Ministry.

     Information and Broadcasting Ministry sources told indiantelevision.com that Prasar Bharati is unable to uplink on C-Band and Doordarshan is not being able to downlink these channels on DD Freedish.

     However, the pubcaster runs a half-hour programme of IGNOU, University Grants Commission (UGC) & Central Institute of Educational Technology (CIET) on DD National. The Government had introduced four educational channels: Gyandarshan 1, Gyandarshan 2, Vyas Channel and Eklavya Channel.

    Out of these, Gyandarshan 1 & 2 have been run by the Education Media Production Centre (EMPC) of IGNOU. Vyas Channel is being managed by UGC and Eklavya by Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs).

    IGNOU used to uplink these channels on C-Band which was then taken by DD Freedish of Prasar Bharati.

    At present, however, these channels are off air since IGNOU has not cleared its dues to Prasar Bharati.

     

  • Over 50% of Prasar Bharati’s expenditure for 2013-14 went into salaries: Rathore

    Over 50% of Prasar Bharati’s expenditure for 2013-14 went into salaries: Rathore

    NEW DELHI: Prasar Bharati spent 51 per cent of its total expenditure for 2013-14 on salaries, Parliament was told today.

    Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore said that approximately 15 per cent was spent by the pubcaster on infrastructure.

    Only an approximate 11 per cent was incurred by Prasar Bharati on programming during 2013-14.

    In the budget announced on February last year (2013), the grants-in-aid for Prasar Bharati had been raised from the revised estimates of Rs 172.904 crore to Rs 218.037 crore but there was no separate investment by the Government in the pubcaster as in previous years.

    However, there was provision for investment of Rs 20 crore from Internal and Extra-budgetary resources for Prasar Bharati.

    An explanatory memorandum said the grants-in-aid were towards meeting the salary and salary related expenditure.

    Prasar Bharati sources had then told indiantelevision.com that this had been done to meet the extra expenditure on salaries which 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.

     

  • DD invites programmes for proposed rural-based Kisan Channel

    DD invites programmes for proposed rural-based Kisan Channel

    NEW DELHI: Noting that the proposed Doordarshan Kisan is a dedicated channel for the farmers to give them information targeted to address the wholesome edutainment needs of a farmer to adopt and adapt to modern scenario, the national broadcaster has invited proposals for programmes under the Self Financing Commissioned Scheme.

     
    DD says that the content expected for DD Kisan will primarily address the developmental needs of the farmer addressing ‘Core Agriculture’, ‘Critical Support’ and ‘Essential Ancillary’ areas, keeping in mind the varied agro-economic zones, climatic areas, different crops and the need to address the target audience spread across various states but will have to be entertaining and engaging.

     
    The content on DD Kisan will be in Hindi with regional dubbing.

     
    The genres for which it has invited proposals are: documentaries/features (field based); magazines/docu dramas (field based); cookery shows/biographies; daily soap/fiction serials/family serials/thrillers; film song based programmes; reality shows/game shows; and mandi bhav/bazar bhav/agro based bulletins.

     
    In addition, DD Kisan will have a new segment for iconic characters plus content packaging where animated characters will convey the agricultural themes and desired messaging. It is expected that the participants under this category will also provide layouts of the channel’s packaging.

     
    It will also have a segment for edited feature films where the entire film is expected to be capsuled with anchor based presentation for 60 minutes.

     
    In the ‘bazar bhav’/mandi bhav’ segments, updates from the mandis including the template will be required to be provided, which would be required to give the core audiences suitable direction and help in the agricultural productive activity.

     
    To begin with, each producer has to send in the synopsis of 26 episodes but this may be extended if necessary.

     
    Under the scheme of self financed commissioning, the producer will produce the programme at his own risk and cost and on the selection of the programme, Doordarshan will market it, telecast the same and pay the producer for his services after a specified period of time.

     
    Self financed commissioning of programmes through outside producers could be done for DD’s national channels, regional language channels, state networks, regional and local services.

     
    DD shall, at its discretion and in accordance with its programme requirements, select producers suo moto for production of programmes. DD may also consider proposals submitted by producers on their own.

     
    The proposals are to be submitted in complete accordance with the guidelines of SFC programmes for DD Kisan which have been placed on the website of Doordarshan – www.ddindia.gov.in

     

  • Prasar Bharati adopts standard operating procedure; admits irregularities

    Prasar Bharati adopts standard operating procedure; admits irregularities

    NEW DELHI: A standard operating procedure has been put into place to strengthen the commissioning procedure following complaints of irregularities in Doordarshan’s Urdu and Kashir (Kashmir) channels.

     
    Information and Broadcasting Ministry sources told indiantelevision.com that the aim was to ensure that the gaps are filled and the whole process becomes more transparent.

     

    While declining to give details, the DD sources said that a procedure had been devised for multi-layer examination of every proposal so that any mischief or irregularity at one level can be detected when it goes to the next level and ultimately to the Empowered Committee headed by the Director General herself.

     

     According to Prasar Bharati there have been some allegations of irregularities in the production of programmes and outsourcing them, mainly regarding the in-house productions done at DD Kendra in Srinagar for telecast on the DD Kashir channel.

     
    Some complaints had also been received about DD Urdu programmes and the sources said Prasar Bharati had informed the Ministry that these needed further examination.  

    DD Kashir was pitched as an exclusive platform catering to the population of Jammu & Kashmir to bridge the gap between Jammu and Kashmir and the rest of the country.

     
    Besides programmes in Urdu language, programmes in other regional languages like Pahari, Gojri, Balti, Hindi, Punjabi and Pushto are also being produced and telecast on Kashir.

     

  • Channel for farmers to be launched early next year

    Channel for farmers to be launched early next year

    NEW DELHI: The Kisan channel is expected to be launched early next year, as soon as the procedures under the existing rules and norms are completed.

     
    Information and Broadcasting Ministry sources said the channel would be in Hindi to begin with and will have inputs from regional Kendras. These programmes will be shared with the Kendras.

     
    The channel would be an education-cum-entertainment one, encompassing all facets of life of a farmer. Besides the core agricultural issues, the content of the channel will deal with various social and economic issues concerning rural India.

     
    Ministry sources said Prasar Bharati inputs would be taken from different agricultural universities and institutes to develop rich content for the channel and the same would be disseminated among the farmers.

     

    In keeping with the budget announcement about setting up a Kisan channel, by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, Prasar Bharati has already invited applications for recruitments in the channel which will be round-the-clock.

     
    DD is hoping to engage people in the field of production as well as marketing in positions ranging from senior to mid to junior level.

     
    There are a total of 67 vacant posts of post production professionals, visual graphics designers, record keepers, senior videographers, junior videographers, senior production executives, production executives, senior creative editors, creative editors, senior presenters, presenters, copy editor–cum-writers, programme trainees, head- sales and marketing, and senior sales and marketing executives.

     
    Other steps being taken by Prasar Bharati for this channel include: production of in-house and outsourced content; liaison with relevant ministries to get inputs for channel content and for which advertisements will be issued; calculation of budget and expenditure for the channel; crowd sourcing for channel name, logo, jingles etc and issue of advertisement for channel packaging and branding along with look and feel and montage.

     
    Jaitley had announced in his budget speech on 10 July that a sum of Rs 100 crore would be allocated for this channel. However, the budget for I&B Ministry shows an allocation of Rs 90 crore for this in the year 2014-15.

     

    Meanwhile, the Krishi Darshan programmes of Doordarshan are being telecast under the ‘Mass Media Support to Agriculture Extension’ funded by the Agriculture Ministry focusing on dissemination of modern agricultural techniques by involving experts from various fields like insurance, banking, credit for farmers, State Government schemes on agriculture/ fisheries/veterinary science/water and soil conservation/social forestry etc.

     
    In addition, a programme ‘Mera Gaon Connection telecast at prime time on DD National also introduces modern agricultural techniques to the viewers.  

     

  • Doordarshan Freedish to hold 19th online e-auction to fill four slots

    Doordarshan Freedish to hold 19th online e-auction to fill four slots

    NEW DELHI:  In a pace that has surprised many, Doordarshan is set to hold the 19th e-auction for Freedish on 12 December in an attempt to touch the target of 112 television channels in the next few months.

    Doordarshan has set a reserve price of Rs 3.7 crore per slot for the 19th online e-auction, though indiantelevision.com learnt that the bid amount went up to Rs 4.2 crore in the 17th e-auction held on 12 November. This came shortly after the 16th e-auction on 28 October.

     DD sources also said the 19th auction is to fill four slots. Earlier, Prasar Bharati officials had decided not to disclose the number of slots to be e-auctioned to prevent bidders forming consortia to bid or resort to other malpractices.

     Prasar Bharati CEO Jawhar Sircar had said recently that the future of Doordarshan was in Freedish and digitisation. He had added that this may mean that some channels would have to be attracted to Freedish by means other than e-auction.

     DD Sources also said that while Freedish may be encrypted to keep a tab on the number of subscribers, it would remain free-to-air.

    The e-auction will be conducted by Synise Technologies, Pune on behalf of Prasar Bharati.   

     The reserve price in the 15th e-auction was Rs three crore and was raised to Rs 3.7 crore in the 16th auction.

     Prior to the 16th auction, the total number of channels on Freedish was 58.

     Meanwhile, a Doordarshan official declined to give the number of successful bids in recent auctions as engineers of the pubcaster had to test these channels before verifying any numbers.

     The eligibility terms and conditions including other relevant details for this e-auction are displayed on DD website: www.ddindia.gov.in.

     However, the participation amount (EMD) in the e-auction is Rs 1.5 crore which will be deposited in advance on or before 11 November evening along with processing fee of Rs 10,000 (Non-refundable) in favour of PB (BCI) Doordarshan Commercial Service, New Delhi.

     Applicants have also been asked mandatorily to deposit a Demand Draft of Rs 5,500 registration amount favouring  Synise Technologies, payable at Pune at the time of submission of the application.

    The time for every slot e-auction will be of 15 minutes duration.

     The applicants must provide details of the uplink/downlink permission documents received from the concerned Ministries with the applications to ensure they are not rejected.

     The demand drafts of unsuccessful bidders will be returned immediately or within a week after the e-auction process is completed.