Doordarshan to restart process for prime time slot auction.

Doordarshan will roll out new programming on 1 November

Prasar Bharati had first decided to put its prime time slots up for sale at its previous board meeting which took place on 16 May. Public broadcaster Prasar Bharati in its 136th board meeting on Tuesday has asked Doordarshan to restart the process of auctioning prime time programming slots on its national channel and invite fresh applications from private producers, said two officials associated with the matter who declined to be named. The auction was cancelled by Doordarshan on 14 July after an internal panel found that some potential bidders did not meet eligibility criteria. Some of the applicants had not submitted the Rs 5,000 document fee, while yet others did not submit a declaration that they had not been DD defaulters in the past. “There have been a lot of problems associated with the slot-sale process. But the board has resolved them and asked Doordarshan to start a fresh application process now,” one of the officials said. The official further added that the broadcaster will roll out new programming on 1 November, which was earlier due on 1 October. “It’s all delayed by a month now. The application process will now be completed by the end of August,” he added. To be sure, Doordarshan had concluded its previous application process earlier this month and received seven applications in the process which closed on 4 July.

Large production houses like Ekta Kapoor promoted Balaji Telefilms, Optymistix Entertainment Pvt. Ltd, which runs Comedy Nights Live on Colors, Contiloe Entertainment Pvt. Ltd and Cinevistaas which have produced shows such as Savdhaan India-India Fights Back on Life OK and Dill Mill Gayye on Star One, among others had applied to take part in the auction. Sanjay Dwivedi, group chief financial officer at Balaji Telefilms Ltd which runs Pavitra Bandhan on DD National said that the production company is awaiting the details of the new policy from Prasar Bharati. “We remain confident of Doordarshan’s ability and reach and we will evaluate this business opportunity on the basis of merit,” he said. Prasar Bharati had first decided to put its prime time slots up for sale at its previous board meeting which took place on 16 May. The broadcaster had planned to auction the 7-11pm slots on all weekdays, while keeping the 7-8pm slot on Saturdays for its own content. Prior to this, the broadcaster used to purchase programmes from producers under self finance commissioning (SFC) scheme and generate advertising revenues. However, the producers who have been working with Doordarshan under SFC scheme had moved the Delhi high court in May, complaining that the new slot-sale policy is discriminatory and violated the rights of small individual producers. The matter is still in court.