News Broadcasting
Private broadcasters resist fee proposal for DD Direct+
NEW DELHI: Indian pubcaster Prasar Bharati’s bid to demand carriage fee from broadcasters to be on its DTH platform, DD Direct+, has met with initial resistance from private sector players.
This was amply clear in a meeting that was held today at the Prasar Bharati headquarters here to discuss the fee issue with private broadcasters who are already present on DD Direct+.
The private sector channels, which have been on DD Direct+ for over a year now, feel that the demand for a carriage fee on the pubcaster’s DTH platform is “unjustified.”
According to a representative of a private broadcaster, “We had assisted Prasar Bharati to launch its DTH service keeping national interest in mind. Now that the service is doing well, this sudden demand is unjustified.”
Early April, Prasar Bharati CEO KS Sarma, while making a presentation before the media during the announcement of its annual financial result, had said there is a proposal to charge private channels on DD Direct+ an annual fee of Rs. 10 million from May when the total number of channels would be increased to 51.
The private broadcasters on DD Direct+ are understood to have argued today at the meeting that as a gesture of goodwill towards them and their contribution in the success of the DTH Platform, they should not be charged any fee.
“If at all Prasar Bharati wishes to charge a carriage fee, it should do so from newcomers who join the platform now,” a general entertainment channel representative said.
Prasar Bharati is India’s public service broadcaster and manages Doordarshan and All India Radio. The DTH service, which has over 900,000 subscribers as per claims made, doesn’t charge the consumer any monthly subscription fee. The hardware comes at a cost of approximately Rs. 4,000.
Publicly funded Prasar Bharati has said there’s a long queue of Indian and foreign broadcasters waiting to hop on to DD Direct+ in an efforts to establish their presence in a market where all TV homes number over 90 million. Of this, 61 million are C&S homes.
The proposal to levy a fee to ride the DD Direct+ bandwagon is also an effort of the pubcaster to increase its annual income, which falls much short of its total yearly expenditure. For the year 2005-06, ended 31 March, the pubcaster’s revenues stood Rs. 12.38 billion, up a whopping 67 per cent from the Rs 8.31 billion it earned previous year.
Of this, national broadcaster Doordarshan accounted for Rs 9.6 billion riding heavily on cricket and Hindi movies. Most significant was the growth on the radio side though, with All India Radio registering a 59.6 per cent jump in revenues at Rs 2.7 billion.
News Broadcasting
Govt extends suspension of BARC ratings for news channels by four weeks
Move aims to curb sensational coverage amid global conflict concerns
MUMBAI: India’s television news ratings freeze is set to run longer. The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting has extended the suspension of Television Rating Points reporting for news channels by another four weeks, following its initial order issued on 6 March.
The directive had instructed the Broadcast Audience Research Council to temporarily halt TRP data for news broadcasters for a month, or until further notice. According to media reports, the pause has now been extended by an additional four weeks, taking the suspension into a second consecutive month and signalling continued regulatory unease.
At the heart of the decision are concerns over sensational and speculative reporting by sections of the news media, particularly during coverage of the US–Iran conflict. The ministry believes such content risks amplifying public anxiety and distorting viewer perception during sensitive geopolitical developments.
Industry watchers say the extension underscores a broader push to nudge news broadcasters towards more measured and responsible reporting. Earlier signals had hinted that the suspension could be prolonged further if channels failed to dial down panic-driven narratives.
For broadcasters and advertisers alike, the absence of TRP data continues to cloud visibility on audience behaviour, even as it sharpens the spotlight on editorial conduct.
