INDIAN BROADCASTERS' SOCIETY GETS GOING

The Indian Broadcasters' Society (IBS) is getting its act together. It met last week to set up an eight-member executive committee, which will be expanded to 12 a little later. Among the eight corporate members figure: Sony, Star TV, Nimbus, ESPN, MTV, Plus Channel and UTV. What is of significance is that DD, Zee TV and Sun TV have not signed on to become members of the IBS. DD and Zee TV have, however, verbally committed to do so.

The IBS has decided that the first issue it will tackle head-on is outstanding payments from advertisers and ad agencies. Producers and television channels have debts from advertisers and ad agencies running up to even four to six months when the norm for the print industry is 60 days. Some TV software producers have not made payments to state-owned broadcaster DD, which works with them on airtime-programming barters, for the past two years.

The IBS has set up an agency and advertiser relations sub-committee, which will be headed by Nimbus boss Harish Thawani, to get cracking on the bad debts issue.

The executive committee is slated to meet next week to decide on the next course of action. A secretary general is to be appointed soon and the rumour is that it is Bhaskar Ghose, once an information and broadcasting ministry bureaucrat, and currently, the host of a movie show on Star Movies, who will get the job.

The IBS will coordinate and push forward the industry's viewpoints with government as far as broadcasting regulation is concerned.