NEW DELHI: Even as the telecom regulatory authority of India (Trai) has in two reports in the last five years rejected the idea of television channels being run by state governments, West Bengal plans to acquire two closed television channels ? Tara News and Tara Muzik, owned by the Sudipta Sen promoted Saradha group.

The group had run into financial crisis recently, leaving hundreds of employees jobless.

"We have decided to acquire Tara Muzik and Tara News on humanitarian grounds," West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee said today.

Earlier, Punjab had approached the information and broadcasting ministry to get into broadcasting business but was turned down, and now the case of Arasu supported by the Tamil Nadu government is unlikely to get the nod of the central government for digital access system (DAS) license.
In any case, the matter relating to the Saradha owned channels is sub judice as the investigation is on and the matter is in court.

The government had also decided to pay an ex-gratia of Rs 16,000 to each of the 168 employees of the two channels for the month of May.

A sum of Rs 26 lakh would be given by Banerjee from the sale proceeds of her paintings to the two channels.

However, she was categorical that the government would not take the liability of the channels which amounted to Rs 6 crore.

The two Bengali channels were bought by the Saradha Group in early 2011. However, the management served closure notices on 15 April. The channels remained on air even after 15 April as employees refused to accept the closure notice.

Trinamool Congress member of parliament Mukul Roy, who is close to Banerjee, had earlier made promises to the employees about assistance from the government.

Banerjee had recently said it was the "teary eyes" of Tara Muzik employees on the day of Bengali New Year (15 April) that made her aware about the financial difficulties of the Saradha owned channels. "After seeing this, I asked Mukul to enquire about the matter. Subsequently, I came to know about Saradha going bust," Banerjee recently said at a public rally.

Among other major media outfits of Saradha, Channel 10, which is also a Bengali news channel, is still on air. Two of its news publications -- Azad Hind (Urdu) and Kalam (Bengali) are also in circulation. Sources suggest in all these organisations, a section of the employees are running the show forming associations with outside support from TMC. On the other hand, Saradha owned English daily Bengal Post and Bengali newspaper Sakalbela are out of circulation.

MUMBAI: The government earned Rs 6.70 billion of revenues in the seven months ended 31 October from television channels including Doordarshan.

Information and Broadcasting (I&B) Ministry sources said a major share of the revenue had come as fee from the private TV channels.

The government earned Rs 1.74 billion from private FM channels and All India Radio (AIR) during this seven-month period, a source said.

In 2011-12, the revenue from television channels for the government was Rs 11.55 billion, four per cent more than Rs 11.12 billion in 2010-11. In 2009-10, it was Rs 10.07 billion.

The total revenue earned by the government from television channels from April 2009 to October 2012 amounted to Rs 39.45 billion.

The government?s income from radio channels in the previous year ended 31 March 2012 stood at Rs 3.57 billion, 2.5 per cent more than Rs 3.48 billion in 2010-11. In 2009-10, the revenue from radio channels was Rs 3 billion.

The total revenue earned from radio channels since April 2009 amounts to Rs 11.8 billion.

Meanwhile, the ministry sources said AIR has been making sustained efforts to increase its revenue. This includes changing its fixed point chart at regular intervals to include popular programmes so as to attract more advertisements and commercials, and broadcasting more interactive, customised and channel driving programmes.

An effort is also being made by AIR to have dedicated time slots for specific target audiences like women and children, youth, rural communities, music lovers, industrial workers, and farmers. Transmission hours too have been extended in some cases to accommodate commercials and radio is entering into more media partnerships to brand AIR.

The programme pattern of AIR stations ? particularly FM channels ? has been changed and made more listener-friendly to attract more buyers from the corporate sectors, and frequent audience research surveys are being undertaken to understand the views of the listeners.

However, the ministry sources made it clear that AIR was a public service broadcaster and, therefore, the aim was not to compete with other electronic media.