News Broadcasting
Prasar Bharati ready for talks with MEN on issue of making DD Sports FTA
NEW DELHI: Prasar Bharati is willing to start negotiations with KK Modi company, Modi Entertainment Network (MEN), on the issue of converting national broadcaster Doordarshan’s DD Sports channel into a free to air channel from the existing pay mode.
According to sources in Prasar Bharati, talks have to be held with MEN on the issue as the latter has gone to court over reported remarks on DD Sports to be converted into a FTA channel and got a stay on any such thing happening.
MEN got an ad-interim injunction from the Delhi High Court ordering Prasar Bharati to maintain status quo with respect to its distribution agreement with MEN. As per the suit filed by MEN, it has sought an order restraining Doordarshan from interfering with the distribution of DD Sports channel in digital and encrypted format till 2005 (the period for which the existing contract runs) exclusively within India and neighbouring countries.
The next hearing of this case has been set for 3 December.
MEN’s actions followed recent comments by Prasar Bharati chief executive KS Sarma made to the media in Chennai that the pubcaster was thinking of converting DD Sports into a free to air channel.
Contacted today by indiantelevision.com, MEN chairman Lalit Modi, while admitting that the company has gone to the court, said: “We are open to any negotiations, but no formal communication has come yet from DD or Prasar Bharati.”
MEN has an agreement with Prasar Bharati for the distribution activities relating to DD Sports. Modi added that it was unethical on Prasar Bharati’s part to take a decision to convert DD Sports into a FTA channel without first consulting MEN as the company has invested a sizeable amount of money in the distribution process of the channel, including set top boxes.
Modi also maintained that DD Sports’ viewership is fairly large and no efforts have been spared to increase its penetration through the cable operators who initially were not much in favour of the channel on the prime band.
If DD decides to opt out of the agreement with MEN and goes ahead with its plans on DD Sports, then it may have to pay a hefty amount for exiting the agreement, industry sources said.
Still, Prasar Bharati officials maintained that even while the corporation would abide by the current court ruling, the rationale behind the proposal to make DD Sports FTA channel was that in the pay mode it was not getting enough viewership.
“Considering that DD is a public broadcaster, its role is to spread the messages far and wide. DD Sports in the pay mode was not being accessed in the remote areas and promotion of sports, including the indigenous ones, could not be taken in a proper manner. Hence the broad proposal to convert it into a FTA channel,” a senior official of Prasar Bharati told indiantelevision.com.
Moreover, with DD having bagged the terrestrial telecast rights of ICC cricket, including the next World Cup in South Africa, it ideally needs a channel where the cricket matches could be shown without displacing its existing programmes which would be necessitated if the cricket matches are telecast on DD National or even DD Metro.
News Broadcasting
Rajesh Sundaram joins NDTV Profit as senior editor, assignment
The 32-year newsroom veteran has launched channels on three continents and covered everything from 9/11 to South African television
MUMBAI: NDTV Profit has bolstered its newsroom with a hire who has done rather more than most. Rajesh Sundaram, a journalist with over three decades of editorial, managerial and consultative experience across India and international markets, joins as senior editor, assignment, tasked with sharpening the network’s newsgathering and real-time response.
Sundaram’s career reads like a tour of Indian media’s most formative moments. He began at Businessworld in 1994, moved to Zee News as bureau chief across Mumbai and Chennai, then joined NDTV in 2002 as part of its political bureau during a particularly febrile period in Indian politics. A stint as India correspondent for Al Jazeera International followed, where he covered key geopolitical developments and got his first serious taste of the global newsroom.
What sets Sundaram apart, however, is his serial channel-launching habit. At NewsX, he helped get the operation off the ground. At Headlines Today, part of the India Today Group, he served as editor. At News Nation, he helped launch the Hindi news channel and its digital ecosystem. He then crossed continents to lead the launch of ANN7 in South Africa as editor-in-chief, overseeing both television and digital. Back in India, he launched Tamil news channels News7 Tamil and Cauvery News, and later served as principal consultant for the launch of Marathi channel Lokshahi. Most recently, he helped build and lead the Press Trust of India’s video service and content studio, before stints consulting for Business Today and The Himalayan Times.
Rahul Kanwal, chief executive and editor-in-chief of NDTV, left little doubt about what Sundaram is expected to deliver. “The assignment desk is where a newsroom’s intent becomes action,” he said. “Rajesh brings a rare combination of field experience and leadership in building news operations at scale.”
Sundaram has reported from across India and the world, covering elections, civil conflicts, the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks and the 2008 US presidential election.
At NDTV Profit, he will lead the assignment desk, driving editorial coordination and real-time response across markets and breaking developments. For a business news network sharpening its focus on speed and multi-platform delivery, it has hired a man who has built newsrooms from scratch on three continents. The assignment desk is in good hands.
