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MUMBAI: Lok Sabha Television (LSTV), a dedicated satellite
channel to telecast live proceedings of Lok Sabha or Lower
House of Parliament and air programmes on important public
issues, hit the airwaves today.
LSTV will function as a 24-hour channel, telecasting programmes
of national interest when the Parliament is not in session.
 In
addition to the live telecast of Parliament proceedings, the
programming line up of LSTV comprises a series of live and recorded
programmes. The channel will offer a mix of panel discussions
and educational and informative programmes.
To start with, LSTV will have programmes such as Today's
Agenda, Party Stand, Awaaz Aap Ki / Street Talk, Sansad Se
Sadak Tak, Village Voice / Gram Sabha, Know Your MP, Review
by the Chair, and The Issue this Week. Viewers,
who have missed the day's live action, can catch up with the
developments through House Highlights, scheduled for
7:30 pm and 11 pm.
The channel also promises to offer cultural programmes such
as music and dance, plays especially staged for LSTV, fortnightly
film and more.
According to media reports, LSTV has been launched on an
initial investment of about Rs 80 million for hardware and
the annual recurring expenditure will fall in the range of
Rs 120-150 million. The channel expects to meet the operational
expense through advertising, which is initially open to public
sector units only.
The channel is being supervised by former information and
broadcasting secretary Bhaskar Ghose, who got a mandate from
Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee some months back to do
a feasibility report on TV channels dedicated to Lok Sabha
and Rajya Sabha (Upper House).
What is not clear at this moment is, whether such dedicated
parliament TV channels cannibalise advertising revenue from
pubcaster Doordarshan, which depends heavily on public sector
undertakings for advertising support.
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