Doordarshan
The broadcaster will rely on both in-house talent and expertise from outside to rejig its content and make programmes more commercially viable as well as popular, the ministry official cited above said.
“If DD has to produce shows in the genre of reality TV, it cannot do commercial shows that other private channels have, but will need to innovate. For instance the (DD) Kerala Kendra did a reality TV series on the best schools of the country,” the official added.
DD will also phase out obsolete technology and practices. “DD already has state-of-the-art equipment and studios, but an assessment will be done of the technologically- aged infrastructure and manpower,” the official said.
The public broadcaster’s flagship channel, DD National, does not feature in the top 10 Hindi general entertainment category (GEC) channels and generated 56.9 million weekly impressions between November 17 and November 23, 2019, as per the latest TV viewership data released by TV ratings agency Broadcast Audience Research Council.
Impressions refer to the number of individuals in thousands of a target audience who viewed an event, averaged across minutes.
At present, the Hindi GEC category is led by Zee Anmol, a freeto-air entertainment channel run by Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd, with 839.5 million impressions for the same time period cited above. It is followed by Star Bharat and Star Plus.
DD claims that the reach of its news bulletins in Hindi and English is higher than those of the private broadcasters because of its terrestrial coverage. DD News channel was launched in 2003 by converting DD Metro into a 24-hours news channel. It reaches 49% of the population and 25% of the country’s area.
At AIR, the funds will be used for strengthening the broadcaster in border areas and those affected by left-wing extremism, expanding FM services to more cities, and upgrading technology (including bringing FM on digital platforms).
“The strategy for revamping the technology and production is ready and will be discussed by the Prasar Bharati board when it meets next,” said a second government official, adding the date for the meeting has not been finalised yet.
According to information available on AIR’S website, its home service comprises 470 broadcasting centres, covering nearly 92% of the country’s area and 99.19 % of the total population; AIR airs programming in 23 languages and 179 dialects.
If the public broadcaster overhauls its content, it will be able to compete with private TV channels, said Ashish Bhasin, chairman and chief executive (South Asia) at media buying firm Dentsu Aegis Network Media India Pvt Ltd.
“The old adage of content is king is what applies here. Advertising follows eyeballs and eyeballs follow good content. As a viewer, I’m interested in good content, and not the channel it’s broadcast on. So if DD can put out good content consistently all their other problems will start to go away. Both Doordarshan and AIR have significantly higher reach, especially as we move deeper in the country, towards Tier 3 and Tier 4 cities, which is a big advantage,” said Bhasin. included their names after investigation,” he said.
The VHP condemned the violence but said the police needed to carry out a thorough probe and demanded action against the alleged cow slaughter. “Bajrang Dal members were at the police station complaining against cow slaughter when violence broke out. Why did the police not take action against those who had illegally gathered and were slaughtering a cow?” said Vinod Bansal, spokesperson of the VHP.
The ADG said two first information reports (FIRS) had been lodged so far, one under the Prevention of Cow Slaughter Act related to the alleged recovery of cow carcasses and the second for the attack on the police force. No arrests have been made in connection with the alleged recovery of cow carcasses. Cow slaughter is banned in Uttar Pradesh.
A special investigation team (SIT) is probing the incident, including the discovery of the carcasses and the identity of those who may have been involved in killing the animals. The SIT will also probe the circumstances under which inspector Singh was cornered and shot, the ADG added.
In Bulandshahr, emotions ran high even as the police imposed section 144, prohibiting the assembly of more than four persons, and came down hard on isolated skirmishes. Singh’s relatives demanded a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe.
“My husband was killed in a planned manner as part of a conspiracy. If the guilty go unpunished, I will commit suicide by shooting myself at the Bulandshahr police lines,” said Rajni Rathore, Singh’s widow. Amarjeet, Sumit’s father, demanded a payment of ~50 lakh, and a subinspector’s job for his other son Vineet.
In Mahaw village, residents blamed the Bajrang Dal and other organisations for the violence, saying the situation was under control until the rightwing workers arrived at the scene.
“After the cow carcasses were found, villagers were satisfied with a written complaint and agreed to end the matter. But suddenly, a mob led by the Bajrang Dal arrived on the scene… villagers and police tried to convince them to not escalate tension but they paid no heed,” said Rajkumar, a farmer who is a former village chief.