DD to get facelift

[IndianMascot]

Faced with intense competition, public broadcaster, Doordarshan is going in for a facelift. With a new programming strategy in place, the plan is to first revive DD national and DD news, followed by it's other national and regional channels, but is it enough to revive the ailing broadcaster?, reports CNBC-TV18’s Pavni Mittal.

Prasar Bharti is hoping to revive the fortunes of public broadcaster Doordarshan. Despite having the largest network in India, it is losing viewer ship to private GEC and news channels. While DD news is expected to see an introduction of panel discussions during the 8 to 10 pm prime time slot, entertainment channels like DD Bharti and DD National will have new shows that have a greater youth appeal.

Tripurari Sharan, Director General, Doordarshan says, "We are re looking at our programmes. The objective is to be able to reach our target audience more effectively. For example, we also want to create and put together shows, which on a daily basis touches chords of young population of India. They are the majority viewers whether rural or urban. Other is to emphasize our USP in our program, which is meaningful entertainment. It also brings works of great masters, and works by acclaimed directors and new people". They are getting full support from I&B ministry. It spends more than 70 per cent of its annual budget on Prasar Bharti.


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[Sanjay Bhagat]

 

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[Technoglitch]

Prasar Bharati plans to launch a dedicated English channel

NEW DELHI: In a bid to give private channels a run for their money, Prasar Bharati is considering a proposal to split the bilingual Doordarshan News into exclusive Hindi and English channels. According to the plan, DD News will feature only Hindi news while the public broadcaster will launch a dedicatedEnglish channel. The channel could also be scaled up to broadcast internationally.

The proposal for an international channel has been on the drawing board for some time. I&B minister Manish Tewari in his previous avatar as Congress spokesperson had suggested that an international channel would help showcase India as a soft power. Sources said the proposal was sent to the National Security Council Secretariat (NSCS) for further consideration. The ministry has now asked Prasar Bharati to consider the proposal.