MUMBAI: Like its counterparts in UK and Australia, why doesn?t India boast of a channel targeted at kids? That was the theme of a panel discussion at Ficci Frames 2013.

Prasar Bharati CEO Jawhar Sircar, who was expected to take part in the panel discussion, was conspicuous by his absence. The session that was supposed to discuss and deliberate upon the importance of a public kids? broadcaster went without government representation.

The panelists comprised CFSI chairman Amol Gupte, Graphiti Multimedia chairman Ram Mohan, and International Advertising Association-India Chapter (IAA-IC) Secretary at Monica Tata. Graphiti Multimedia COO Munjal Shroff was moderator of the session.

Tata, who was earlier with Turner International and was managing kids channels Cartoon Network and Pogo, said it was imperative for the government to enter the kids broadcasting space as part of its larger social responsibility.

According to Tata, Doordarshan, the television arm of Prasar Bharati, with its huge reach through terestrial cable will go a long way in reaching kids who don?t have access to quality content.

Graphiti Multimedia chairman Ram Mohan, also known as father of Indian animation, felt a public-private partnership would go a long way in making this initiative a success.

He also felt that a public-owned kids broadcaster would also give a fillip to Indian animation industry besides serving the larger social good - that of helping kids to develop life skills.

The panelists agreed that the first step was to convince the government to launch such a channel. The content of the channel can be decided later.

Tata believes that the channel should have content that is educating but also entertaining at the same time.

CFSI chairman Amol Gupte feels that the time has come for the government to put its foot down and get working on the channel.

Children, he noted, are exposed to all sorts of crass content that is having a negative impact on them. A DD kids channel would go a long way in plugging that need gap.

Bennett Coleman and Company Limited (BCCL) Director AP Parigi feels the government should provide the highway to create centres of excellence in kids? broadcasting.

He also reckoned that the government should have a incubation period of at least five years for the channel before it becomes viable. The curriculum of government-run schools should have synergy with the kids channel.

While saying that the public kids channel should be a viable option, Tata felt that viability is a subjective term when it comes to a public enterprise.

Graphiti?s Munjal Shroff pointed out that the Ficci Media & Entertainment committee has been lobbying for the last four years with the Prasar Bharati to launch a kids channel without much success.

Shroff also revealed that Sircar has promised to look into the issue. The plan, he further revealed, was to have a dedicated slot on DD which would later be spun-off into a full-fledged channel.

The panelists urged the small gathering to take the issue up with the government to get them to fast-track the process of launching a children-centric channel.

Gupte said, "We need advocacy groups to tell the government that this kind of a channel is the need of the hour as part of its larger social responsibility."

The panelists also felt that a Sesame Street kind of an initiative to give children from under-privileged background a platform to learn skills should be replicated in India. Sesame Street is a long-running American children?s television series. In India it airs on Cartoon Network as well as on DD.

NEW DELHI: Information and Broadcasting Minister Manish Tewari has assured Parliament that the time of Urdu news from the Hyderabad Kendra of Doordarshan would be increased as the need arises.

He said that 44 Regional News Units of News Services Division, All India Radio, broadcast regional news bulletins.

In addition to this, a Regional News Unit has been set up at Kargil in Jammu and Kashmir which broadcasts regional news bulletins.

In Doordarshan, 29 Regional News Units telecast regional news from its various Kendras.

He said in reply to another supplementary question that both AIR and Doordarshan regularly transmit programmes which help the farmer in learning about various cultivation techniques and keeping him updated about the latest in this particular field.

There are 48 regional news bulletins in 18 languages, which are produced centrally from the News Service Division of AIR. In addition to this, 181 bulletins in 74 languages are produced and broadcast from the RNUs, and this covers the 22 scheduled languages.

There are 1019 news-based programmes from RNUs in 21 languages which are broadcast. And this totally amounts to 117 hours and 15 minutes of programming per week. In addition to that, you have 290 headline bulletins from FM Rainbow in 15 languages.

He accepted a suggestion to make the news as local as possible and content rich and more focussed on local imperatives.
 
Tewari said in reply to another supplementary that Prasar Bharati had been taking steps to augment infrastructure both in terms of gathering of news and dissemination of news in Doordarshan and AIR. A process has been started of digitising the various studios of Doordarshan to ensure that the quality of news which is broadcast is of the optimum level and this project will be completed by 2017. A total of 145 stations are currently being digitised.

In AIR, there are complaints which have come in that the medium wave transmission is not audible, and that, to a certain extent, is correct because over the years, the power of the transmitters have gone low because these are legacy equipment.

A total of 71 transmitters have been replaced in the 11th Plan and the power of 33 medium wave FM transmitters is being upgraded to see that broadcasting becomes better.

Prasar Bharati is also in the process of recruiting additional people and 1150 vacancies have been sanctioned.

NEW DELHI: As many as 120 of 281 cases in Doordarshan and 12 out of 516 cases in All India Radio (AIR) have been decided in favour of the staff by the Central Administrative Tribunal and various courts.

A large number of these cases are now pending in appeal in various courts.

Prasar Bharati sources said the Recruitment Regulations for various categories of Prasar Bharati employees were notified during 2000-2002.

However, these were kept in abeyance by Prasar Bharati as the terms and conditions were not acceptable to the employees. The amendments made to Section 11 of the Prasar Bharati Act in 2012 has settled the status of employees working in Prasar Bharati. In pursuance to amendments to Section-11, it was decided to frame new Recruitment Regulations governing the service conditions of the employees recruited by Prasar Bharati after 5 October 2007.

Following approval of Prasar Bharati?s Board, the Government has already communicated its approval for the Recruitment Regulations in respect of 4 categories of staff, viz. Cameraman Grade-II, Engineering Assistant, Technician and Head Clerk/ Assistant (for notification).

NEW DELHI: Based on inputs from viewers and the audience research surveys conducted by it, Doordarshan has revamped the prime time programming on its main channels: DD National, DD Urdu, DD Bharati and DD News.

Doordarshan Director-General Tripurari Sharan told indiantelevision.com that five new series had commenced from today on the DD National channel.

Sharan said that the inputs received from various sources relating to the 8 pm to 10 pm slot had been collated before revamping the channels.

While the revamping of DD Bharati had taken place from Republic Day with the introduction of some new programmes and changing the time slots of some of the others, DD National and DD Urdu had been revamped from this week.

DD News will also shortly see a change in news presentation, with new presenters and a lighter format. Sharan said discussions and news will be presented in one-hour format for Hindi and English news. Attempts had also been made to make use of appropriate technology to upgrade the standard of presentation.

Additional Director General Ashok Jailkhani said that the attempt in DD Urdu had been to understand the psyche of the viewers before deciding the programmes. He said that around 50 proposals had been cleared for new serials on DD Urdu following a decision by the Prasar Bharati Board, and were in various stages of production.

ADG Raj Shekhar Vyas who looks after DD National said the attempt had been to consolidate the prime time slot with quality programming. Doordarshan is also reviving some of its popular shows like ?Ek Tha Rusty?, and ?Byomkesh Bakshi?.

NEW DELHI: The role of the pubcaster is coming under review to give it a push in the wake of growth of private satellite television channels and the government?s design to make it financially self-running. The Information and Broadcasting (I&B) Ministry has constituted a seven-member expert committee to review the institutional framework of public broadcaster Prasar Bharati, including its relationship with the government.

Sam Pitroda, advisor to the Prime Minister on Public Information Infrastructure and Innovations, is the chairman of the expert committee.

The committee will have Prasar Bharati CEO Jawhar Sircar as its convener. It will also examine the continuing role of the pubcaster and measures needed to ensure technical upgradation of the organisation.

The timing of the setting up of the committee coincides with the recent announcements of fresh financial packages to the pubcaster, and the government undertaking to pay salaries of employees who had been employed with the pubcaster as on 5 October 2007.

The committee will review the status of implementation of the recommendations made by various committees that have undertaken study of Prasar Bharati, namely, the Sengupta committee, the Bakshi Committee and the Narayanamurthy committee and suggest a road map for enhancing the reach and potential of the public broadcaster.

It can suggest measures to sustain, strengthen and amplify Prasar Bharati`s role as a public broadcaster with special reference to its relationship with government in the emerging context.

It will also suggest measures to digitise the archival material in the possession of Doordarshan (DD) and All India Radio (AIR) including material from independence movement era, and develop enabling infrastructure, in the form of data digitalisation systems, data centers and networks, etc.

The committee will suggest ways of using the new media to deliver digital content - both in broadcast mode (DTH) and in a demand-based mode (Free on social media like You-Tube, and on payment through IPTV).

It will work out a strategy for creating a network of domestic and overseas business partners for ensuring wider reach to a worldwide audience including creating an exclusive overseas service.

The members of the committee are retired IAS officer Asha Swaroop, who had earlier served as secretary in the I&B Ministry, B K Gairola (Mission Director e-Governance), Shekhar Kapur (a member of the National Innovation Council), Professor M P Gupta of IIT Delhi; and Jitendra Shankar Mathur, additional secretary and nominated member on the Prasar Bharati Board.