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NEW DD CHIEF PLAYS
TOUGH
RR Shah, the new chief executive
of the Prasar Bharati Corporation, overseeing the
activities of Doordarshan and All India Radio, has
started cracking the whip. Defaulting Indian producers
and agencies better watch out.
In a bid to streamline the commercial
operation of and to reduce the arrears in payments,
mostly from DD producers and advertising agencies,
RR Shah, has sent out notices to various people to
pay up or face the music.
Defaulting producers and agencies
(who together owe DD over Rs 200 million, as per admissions
in parliament) have to pay their arrears in three
installments, Shah has said.
He added that defaulting producers
and agencies will have to pay telecast fees to the
state-owned broadcaster in advance if they want their
shows to continue to air. And if they choose not to
clear their outstandings within three months, they
will be given a jolt when their programmes are yanked
off DD.
Further streamlining includes, discontinuing
the usage of banked free commercial time (FCT) on
other DD channels and slots in the case of sponsored
serials. (DD works on a system of barter for its entertainment,
wherein private producers buy time slots on the DD
channel and in exchange they get advertising time
which they can then sell to advertisers.) According
to Shah, there would be no more of carry over of banked
FCT for utilisation elsewhere, including other programme
slots. He further emphasised said that banked FCT
available with producers of sponsored serials will
have to be utilised in the number of episodes sanctioned
for broadcast.
DD is also protecting itself from
truant producers who insist on not paying even after
they sign a time barter or air time marketing deal.
DD's comemrcial service will not accept cheques as
payments from either producers or ad agencis. From
now on, DD will insist on demand drafts to avoid non-clearance
by the banks. DD has, in the past, been hit below
the belt in the past when producers have given its
commercial departments cheques only to have the banks
not honour them.
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