A day after the industry‘s nyet to Prasar Bharati‘s efforts to attract bidders for Doordarshan‘s Metro, a leading business daily reported that the pubcaster was planning to offer the 7:00 PM to 10:00 PM prime time band without any minimum floor price. However, sources in Delhi said that while DD officials were open to the idea of a reduction in the base bid they were unlikely to accept a zero sum situation.

Sources said an official announcement would be made in the next two days, probably through advertisements in newspapers.

A possibility that has been thrown up is of DD producing and marketing programmes on its own but this seems an impractical option. What could happen is that DD reverts to the old system where a particular time slot is thrown open either to producers for bidding or a producer approaches the pubcaster with a programme for a time slot on an air time barter basis. (Here the air time sales are looked after by the producer and the rights to the programme are also with him/her.)

Asked for HFCL-Nine Broadcasting‘s reaction in the light of the the possible changed circumstances, an official spokesperson said there was nothing further to add to the statement CEO Ravina Raj Kohli had put out yesterday.

Partha Sinha, senior vice-president marketing, Zee Telefilms, said: "We will have to make a fresh reassessment if the reports are true but it‘s too soon to make a definitive comment."

Star India CEO Peter Mukerjea said he would prefer to wait for official word from Prasar Bharati. "At the moment it‘s all too speculative," he said.

Markand Adhikari, vice-chairman and managing director, Sri Adhikari Network Ltd, a DD content provider, said that he was in favour of the half hour time slot air time barter system, rather than larger time bands being blocked up by a single player, so that everyone operates "under a level playing field."

Interestingly, senior Doordarshan officials are reported to be against any re-negotiation with HFCL-Nine Broadcasting on the issue of giving an extension to the existing contract.

The Kerry Packer-backed outfit had last year bagged the prime time slot of 9:00 PM to 10:00 PM for Rs 1210 million. HFCL-Nine?s annual contract ends in September for the 7:00 PM to 9:00 PM slot and October for the 9:00 PM to 10:00 PM band. The minimum floor price in the new bids for the three-hour prime time band were put at RS 975 million.

Prasar Bharati (Broadcasting Corporation of India) appears to be unhappy with the degree of compliance (or lack of it) by cable operators regarding carriage of national broadcaster Doordarshan‘s channels on their feeds.

That would go some way in explaining an order issued yesterday demanding that cable operators carry DD channels on the prime band of their feeds or face the consequences. Especially since the order is just a restating of something already in place.

To reiterate:
As per the Cable Television Network(Regulation) Amendment Act 2000, it is mandatory for each cable operator to transmit, using only Satellite Signals, the following three Doordarshan Channels in the Prime Band: DD-1 (National ), DD-2 (Metro) Channel and regional language satellite channel of the state or DD (News & Current Affairs) Channel as notified in Gazette notifications dated 13th September, 2000 & 29th January, 2001.

Non-compliance, is a punishable offence. Viewers are advised to inform the district magistrate or sub-divisional magistrate or the commissioner of police or the head of local Doordarshan Kendras, if they do not receive the signals of the above channels on the prime band.

The prime band constitutes frequencies relating to channels falling in the Band I (Channels 2 to 4 ranging from 47 to 68 MHz) and Band III (Channels 5 to 12 ranging from 174 to 230 MHz) of electromagnetic spectrum, which are receivable by conventional TV sets without using add-on unit or special tuner.

The Ronnie Screwvala-promoted UTV Entertainment - which produces two of CNN International‘s "made in India" programmes - has extended its production contract for CNN indiadotcom for another 20 episodes.

CNN indiadotcom had completed 31 episodes at the end of May when the contract was extended. The original contract with UTV was for 40 episodes, executive producer Jaya Mahajan has said.

CNN indiadotcom is presented by Anish Trivedi and covers every aspect of information technology. The weekly show looks at the information technology (IT) industry and how it affects both corporate and personal lives and bring viewers expert opinions, interviews and the latest news on this rapidly-growing industry. CNN indiadotcom has a team of three reporters in Mumbai, one in Bangalore, one in Delhi, two in Hyderabad and two in Chennai, Mahajan said.

When queried about the ubiquitous TRPs, Mahajan said the issues at stake for niche programmes like CNN indiadotcom were not so much ratings as effective distribution, since it directly affected the programme‘s reachability.

"They are good just the way they are at the moment. It is unfair at this stage to compare these shows with those on other fairly established channels," Mahajan states.

But the show is catching on and making a difference Mahajan says, citing an instance where the programme had a positive impact while covering the influence of e-network in the rural areas.

"About three months ago we had covered the impact of information technology in the villages," recalls Mahajan. "The programme featured how e-networking was changing the lives of the people in Varna, a district in Maharashtra. Varna had received a special grant from the prime minister‘s special relief fund to e-enable its network. A programme highlighting this was aired in December. The collector of Dhar district in Madhya Pradesh (central India) happened to watch this programme while he was in Delhi. After noting the changes that IT connectivity had brought about in the villages, it inspired the collector to lead his district towards becoming IT enabled and making it an e-network savvy place.

"A television show should not be only about entertainment, providing information superficially. It is a medium which can bring about changes," says Mahajan, quite satisfied with the impact the programme has had with audiences.

"We are not changing people‘s lives but sometimes we make a difference, which is what the show is all about," says the 26-year-old executive producer. "You know the work is actually reaching people and the difference is truly being felt."

Queried as to how well the show‘s presenter Anish Trivedi went down with audiences, Mahajan said: "CNN is an American channel and stands for a certain production quality. Given his background and presentation style, Anish Trivedi comes across as polished, suave and has a bit of credibility behind him." (Trivedi spent 15 years in the investment banking industry - starting as a trader, and moving through various areas including research, mergers & acquisitions, and investment banking. Trivedi was a former partner at the New York-based investment bank, Oppenheimer & Co, Inc., where he served as the firm‘s director of Indian research, and as country head for India.)

Pubcaster Prasar Bharati‘s much tom-tommed call for pre-qualification bids for prime time slots on national broadcaster Doordarshan‘s Metro channel drew a blank according to reports, at the time of writing.

Industry sources however, say a bid has been put in for the 11:00 PM to 12:30 PM slot by the Delhi-based Moving Pictures Company (India) Ltd promoted by Ramesh Sharma, its chairman and managing director. The time band covers two slots - 11 PM to 12 midnight and 12 midnight to 12:30 am. The advantage for Moving Pictures is that here there is no floor price, unlike the other time slots from 7:00 PM to 11:00 PM This bit of information could not be confirmed at the time of posting the report.

The pre-qualification bids, which were opened at 3:30 PM today, came up empty for the prime time band. This cold shouldering of the new DD tender offer has sent out a strong message that in these difficult times, with channels having enough hassles running their own operations, the headache of managing DD Metro and more so the mandarins behind it was just not worth the effort. It also makes virtually irrelevant tomorrow‘s opening of financial bids which are scheduled for 3:30 PM at Doordarshan Bhavan in Delhi.

The fact that HFCL Nine Broadcasting, which holds the rights for the prime time slot 7:00 to 10:00 PM on DD Metro till September did not put in a bid means that the HFCL-Kerry Packer promoted company has called DD‘s bluff. But a statement put out by Ravina Raj Kohli, CEO, HFCL Nine Broadcasting, still holds out hope that, at the end of the day, it will be Nine Broadcasting that finally ends up renewing its deal for the prime time slot on DD Metro.

And what of Zee Telefilms‘ "interest" in the 7:00 PM to 9:00 PM slot? Partha Sinha, senior vice-president marketing, who had been quoted on 10 June saying: ?We are positively disposed. I see no reason why Zee should not make an expression of interest in that channel,? was singing a a different tune today.

Sinha says that a detailed study of the whole thing in the interim led Zee to conclude that bidding for the slot was not a viable proposition. "And not just in financial terms, but looking at the bigger picture too," he adds.

Star India CEO Peter Mukerjea brushed off the matter in a single line response "Star did not not bid, and that‘s more than enough said on this issue," he says.

In a signed statement Nine Gold CEO Kohli had this to say:
"We at HFCL Nine Broadcasting are not surprised at the outcome of Doordarshan‘s call for fresh bids for time slots on DD Metro. Given the unrealistic terms and conditions proposed by DD, the bid for prime time on DD Metro looked commercially unviable.

"As stated earlier, HFCL Nine Broadcasting India LTD will be happy to initiate fresh talks with DD on the terms and conditions proposed earlier by us. These terms and conditions have been drafted based on our experience with DD Metro, and offer the best financial terms to DD without diluting the brand image of the national broadcaster.

"Having kept DD‘s best interests in mind for the past 10 months, we at HFCL Nine Broadcasting continue to believe that we are the best partners for DD Metro and look forward to continuing and strengthening our existing relationship."

With industry saying nyet to Prasar Bharati, it‘s now over to the pubcaster to make the next move.