The Hindu : DD Sports to become free channel 'soon'

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Aug 20, 2002

National

National

DD Sports to become free channel 'soon'

By Our Special Correspondent

CHENNAI Aug. 19. The television channel, Doordarshan Sports, will be available ``free'' in homes ``shortly,'' the Prasar Bharti Chief Executive Officer, K. S. Sharma, said today.

Addressing presspersons here, he said ``the revenue from the channel is hardly about Rs. 20 crores annually. We are talking to MEN (Modi Entertainment Network — Prasar Bharti has an agreement with the media organisation) on changing it from a pay channel to a free one.''

The channel had about ``27 days of cricket given by the BCCI (Board of Cricket Control in India) each year.'' Apart from this, when there was a World Cup or an ICC tournament, it could get a ``few more fortnights of cricket.'' Rest of the year, DD Sports covered local games, which were of regional and national interest. ``DD Sports was conceived to promote local sports,'' he said adding that once the legal problems were sorted out, it would be available as a free channel.

Mr. Sharma was in the city as part of his efforts to meet cable operators all over the country. ``I first went to Andhra Pradesh where cable penetration is the highest. I am here today and I will be talking to operators in Mumbai,'' he said. His message to the operators was clear and straight: ``Do not shut us out. If you do not comply, we will have to take legal steps.''

Running the Prasar Bharti cost the country about Rs. 2000 crores a year. Its revenues were about Rs. 700 crores while the Government extended a budgetary support of Rs.1300 crores. Raising revenue was not the sole aim of the organisation since there was a service motive involved. ``For the other channels it is entertainment, entertainment and entertainment. For us it is information, education and entertainment,'' he said.

As part of a plan to shore up finances, the Prasar Bharti was also looking at the possibilities of exploiting prime properties on which its stations were located in 272 cities and towns, across the country. But so far, no decision had been taken.

The Prasar Bharti was working on creating 17,000 hour-long archives at a cost of about Rs. 2 crores. Of this, 12,000 hours were devoted to ``the spoken word,'' comprising of speeches of Ministers and dignitaries. The remaining 5,000 hours were meant for music. The programmes would be stored in 42,000 tapes, ranging from 20 to 30 minutes. The tapes would be converted into CDs too. A copy would be retained by the Prasar Bharti, another maintained in a compressed form and a third would be made available to the stations around the country on request.

The whole process of storing was being carried out ``in house.'' Progress was slow and only a twentieth of the work had been completed. Efforts were being made to speed up the process. The Association of Doordarshan Stringers (Chennai) said that it had handed over a memorandum to the CEO regarding delay in payments. ``We understand that approximately about Rs. one crore is required to clear all pending bills covered in 2000 and 2001'' nationwide, the association said.

The CEO admitted to the problem and said that efforts were being taken to sort this out. The Prasar Bharti was planning to appoint stringers in all the ``575 plus districts'' in the next one-and-a-half years and they would report for both the DD and the AIR.

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