Prasar Bharati  CEO today(Oct.25.2010) said it knew in advance that the recently concluded Commonwealth Games, for which Doordarshan was the official broadcaster, would not bring in huge advertising revenues, given India's love for cricket.
Prasar Bharati, which was forced to reduce advertising revenue target from Rs 200 crore to Rs 100 crore, as a result of luke warm response from advertisers, has not yet disclosed the sum it has garnered from the telecast of the 12-day long event that concluded on October 14.

            "Revenues from advertising spots on TV and radio in this country mostly come from cricket. Cricket is so popular here that other sports do not get similar attention. We knew since the beginning that the event will not get great revenues,"Prasar Bharati Chief Executive Officer B S Lalli told reporters .Prasar Bharati, however, is hopeful of having crossed the Rs 100 crore mark.

               "We are still counting the total revenues earned by both Doordarshan and All India Radio from advertisements and the amount to be received from the Organising Committee. The final figures will be out soon,"Prasar Bharati Director General Aruna Sharma said.

               To make matters worse for the broadcaster, Doordarshan was ordered by the government not to air commercials during the closing ceremony."We were not allowed to show ads during the closing ceremony at all,"Sharma said.After a successful opening ceremony, DD had hiked ad spot rates for the closing ceremony to Rs 2.5 lakh for a ten second spot as compared with Rs 90,000 for the same in the opening of the CWG.It was banking heavily on the last broadcast of the CWG, but the government orders had put paid to its hope.

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