DD to beam into Europe, 24 hour radio news from AIR

Our Infotech bureau
07 February 2004

Chennai: Doordarshan (DD) owned by Prasar Bharati, the public service telecaster is all set to cash in on the non resident Indian population in Europe. Addressing a press conference here in Chennai, the union minister of state for information and broadcasting, Ravi Shankar Prasad, said the final details were being worked out.

He also announced that Prasar Bharati would soon start a 24x7 radio news station.

Meanwhile DD News, the latest-24 hour news channel from DD / Prasar Bharati has far exceeded its revenue target of Rs.2 crore for this fiscal. According to Prasad, the target has been revised upwards to Rs.6 crore which the channel was expected to achieve.

Thanks to its friendly rates — Rs.3,000 for prime time spots and Rs.2,000 for non prime time spots — the channel has found favour with advertisers like Maruti Suzuki, Tata Tea, Reliance, Hutch and others.

According to K S Sarma, chief executive officer, Prasar Bharati, the organisation has signed an MOU with the ministry of agriculture to expand its narrow-casting service to serve the farming community. Currently narrow casting is available in 12 DD stations and is available in 24 centres. "by next year, 100 transmitters will be involved in narrow casting and later the number will increase to 300," Sarma added.