NEW DELHI: Prasar Bharati or the Broadcasting Corporation of India in its annual report has attempted to prove that it’s vast infrastructure (including real estate), estimated to value over Rs. 50,000 million, is not severely under-utilized.

Despite its lofty ideals, a major chunk of programming on the primary services of both Doordarshan and All India Radio are
entertainment-based.

During 2004 (Jan –Dec), for example, studio utilization for recording per month in major Doordarshan centres was 4,085 hours as against the allotted time of 6,039 hours. For smaller centres, it was 1,371 hours as against the allotted time of 2,970 hours.

The annual report, which paints a rosy picture of DD and its radio sibling All India Radio, states, “The studio utilization for transmission per month in major Kendras of Doordarshan was 8,458 hours as against the allotted time of 9,017 hours and for other Kendras it was 1,207 hours against the allotted time of 1,707 hours.”

The average per month utilization of various transmission facilities of Doordarshan in terms of transmission hours was 567 hours for DD – I and 570 hours in respect of DD – News.

An analysis of commercial time vis-à-vis transmission time shows that out of the maximum commercial time actually utilized in a block of half an hour programme in AIR is about 4 per cent of the slot duration, which is approximately 72 seconds.

According to Doordarshan’s analysis, during the year 2004, the maximum commercial time permitted in a block of half an hour programme is 25 per cent of the slot duration, which is 450 seconds. “So far as actual utilization is concerned, it is about 15 per cent on the average of the maximum commercial time in any half an hour slot,” the Corporation’s annual report says.

Though it could not be directly established whether the revenue earned by the DD and AIR are linked to the type of rogramming they air, but an analysis of the primary service of All India Radio during shows that entertainment programming formed the bulk of programming at 42.9 per cent.

News and other programming (sports, industrial workers, minority language, dialects, senior citizens, etc) held the next big sway at 23 per cent each. Surprisingly, children programming amounted to just 0.9 per cent, while women-related show formed 2.1 per cent.

For DD National too entertainment programming, which included sports shows, formed a major chunk at 75 per cent.

In case critics accused DD of abandoning its social objectives, the annual report has clarified that rural programmes are “largely mounted by the regional kendras” in the regional networks/channels to cater to area specific needs.

Doordarshan presently operates 27 channels. Two of them, DD National and DD News, are available both through terrestrial as well as satellite mode. The rest are satellite channels.

As part of moving into the future, captive earth stations with digital uplink capabilities are being provided in the AIR network. Six such stations are being provided at Kolkata, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Thiruvananthapuram and Bhopal.

Downlink facilities are also being digitized in phases. About 53
stations are being provided with digital downlinks.