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MUMBAI: Prasar Bharati is looking to try its luck at auctioning programming blocks on DD National for the third time. The pubcaster is expected to float tenders for the same.
The Prasar Bharati board is meeting on 17 October to take a final call on the slot auction and the modalities of it.
“The Prasar Bharati board is meeting on 17 October to take a final call on slot auction. This is one of the many items on the board’s agenda,” said a top DD official on condition of anonymity.
Earlier attempts at auctioning slots have proved futile as production houses that had evinced interest were found ineligible. When DD had first floated the request for proposal, seven production houses had shown interest. However, all of them were found ineligible, and the process was called off.
The pubcaster went back to the drawing board, relaxed a few conditions like restriction on regional-language production houses, number of hours of programming produced, and turnover.
Despite relaxing the eligibility criteria, the pubcaster received only three bids. However, even those bids were found ineligible, and the process had to be called off for the second time.
In the first round, Balaji Telefilms, Contiloe, Cinevistaas, Keylight Productions, Optymistix, Rash Productions and Shakuntalam Telefilms had shown interest. In the second round, the three production houses that evinced interest were Balaji Telefilms, Keylight Productions (Mumbai) and BAG Telefilms.
Auctioning slots to procure programming for DD has been the pet project of Prasar Bharati CEO Jawhar Sircar, who has been pushing for its implementation to remove discretion from the process of selecting programmes.
Earlier, the pubcaster was commissioning programmes, which proved to be disastrous for DD as the shows did not garner enough eyeballs. DD’s ad revenue also took a hit due to the decline in viewership. The popularity of private free-to-air (FTA) channels also made the task difficult for the pubcaster.
In an earlier interaction, Sircar had told TelevisionPost.com that the slot auction would usher in an era of transparency in DD.
“If we get through this, it will be a major victory for transparency. A small section in DD is against any sort of transparency, but I am confident that we will be able to complete the process. This is the first time we are going for open bidding.”
He had also noted that the slot auction would ensure that DD got best quality content as production houses would recover cost of the investment made in producing the shows.
“Once the producer puts in the money, s/he will ensure that the content is good. We are a public broadcaster; we can’t spend so much money to compete with the main GECs. Once we are through with this, I am sure we will be up there,” he had added.
Prasar Bharati mulls DD slot auction for the third time | TelevisionPost.com
The Prasar Bharati board is meeting on 17 October to take a final call on the slot auction and the modalities of it.
“The Prasar Bharati board is meeting on 17 October to take a final call on slot auction. This is one of the many items on the board’s agenda,” said a top DD official on condition of anonymity.
Earlier attempts at auctioning slots have proved futile as production houses that had evinced interest were found ineligible. When DD had first floated the request for proposal, seven production houses had shown interest. However, all of them were found ineligible, and the process was called off.
The pubcaster went back to the drawing board, relaxed a few conditions like restriction on regional-language production houses, number of hours of programming produced, and turnover.
Despite relaxing the eligibility criteria, the pubcaster received only three bids. However, even those bids were found ineligible, and the process had to be called off for the second time.
In the first round, Balaji Telefilms, Contiloe, Cinevistaas, Keylight Productions, Optymistix, Rash Productions and Shakuntalam Telefilms had shown interest. In the second round, the three production houses that evinced interest were Balaji Telefilms, Keylight Productions (Mumbai) and BAG Telefilms.
Auctioning slots to procure programming for DD has been the pet project of Prasar Bharati CEO Jawhar Sircar, who has been pushing for its implementation to remove discretion from the process of selecting programmes.
Earlier, the pubcaster was commissioning programmes, which proved to be disastrous for DD as the shows did not garner enough eyeballs. DD’s ad revenue also took a hit due to the decline in viewership. The popularity of private free-to-air (FTA) channels also made the task difficult for the pubcaster.
In an earlier interaction, Sircar had told TelevisionPost.com that the slot auction would usher in an era of transparency in DD.
“If we get through this, it will be a major victory for transparency. A small section in DD is against any sort of transparency, but I am confident that we will be able to complete the process. This is the first time we are going for open bidding.”
He had also noted that the slot auction would ensure that DD got best quality content as production houses would recover cost of the investment made in producing the shows.
“Once the producer puts in the money, s/he will ensure that the content is good. We are a public broadcaster; we can’t spend so much money to compete with the main GECs. Once we are through with this, I am sure we will be up there,” he had added.
Prasar Bharati mulls DD slot auction for the third time | TelevisionPost.com
