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In a two-day board, held yesterday and today, Prasar Bharati board
members dwelt on the importance of a news channel as part of a vision
ahead of national broadcaster DD celebrating its 43rd birthday on
15 September.
"Though
it was not exactly said in so many words that DD should revive its
news channel, but one of the points discussed as part of future
of DD was the need and importance of having a news channel with
Prasar Bharati (read Doordarshan)," a senior Prasar Bharati official
who attended the board meeting told indiantelevision.com.
Some
months back, senior Doordarshan and Prasar Bharati officials had
gone on record telling the media, including indiantelevision.com,
that there was a plan to revive the now-defunct DD News with the
probable unveiling happening on 15 September. This was followed
by hot denials, of course, after the information and broadcasting
ministry `unofficially' said there was no such moves and that the
government was not thinking on those lines either.
Does the "vision" mean that Prasar Bharati will go ahead and revive
DD News? "Well, the agenda of the board meeting did not spell it
out in such clear terms, but the underlying feeling during a discussion
was that a separate DD news channel is of utmost importance, especially
if Doordarshan and All India Radio are to continue playing their
role of public broadcaster effectively," the Prasar Bharati official
said.
The official, however, clarified that apart from a short discussion
on the importance of a news channel, the board members took nothing
formal up in this regard.
Prasar Bharati had closed down DD News, a satellite channel, in
January earlier this year after about 18 months of being on air.
During this period the channel had failed to get adequate visibility
owing to the reluctance of cable operators to put the channel on
prime band ahead of the likes of Zee News, Star News, Aaj Tak and
even CNBC India. A treatment which is being meted out to DD Sports
also despite a government diktat that at least three DD channels
ought to be on the prime band.
Meanwhile, the Prasar Bharati board, which had primarily met to
bid farewell to its chairman Prof UR Rao who resigned last month
citing personal reasons, also discussed matters relating to training
of its employees and beefing up operations in non-urban areas, amongst
other things, corporation sources said.
Prasar Bharati Corporation, an autonomous body formed under an Act
of the Indian Parliament in the late 1990s, oversees the functioning
of DD and AIR, two of the biggest broadcasters in the world. Since
it was part of the information and broadcasting ministry officially
till some years back, the corporation also carries a baggage of
over 40,000 employees who, according to several panels set up to
look into the restructuring of DD and AIR, are making the corporation
lethargic and inefficient considering the vast infrastructure at
its disposal. It has also been stressed that Prasar Bharati needs
to shed weight and fast.
See earlier headline:
DD
News plan dumped after Swaraj says no
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