In a bid to give private channels a run for their money, Prasar Bharati is considering a proposal to split the bilingual Doordarshan News into exclusive Hindi and English channels. According to the plan, DD News will feature only Hindi news while the public broadcaster will launch a dedicated English channel. The channel could also be scaled up to broadcast internationally.

        

           The proposal for an international channel has been on the drawing board for some time. I&B minister Manish Tewari in his previous avatar as Congress spokesperson had suggested that an international channel would help showcase India as a soft power. Sources said the proposal was sent to the National Security Council Secretariat (NSCS) for further consideration. The ministry has now asked Prasar Bharati to consider the proposal.

 

         Sources said Prasar Bharati was working on the proposal under CEO Jawhar Sircar. However, opinion was split in the PB board on the viability of the new channel. Some members felt it would provide a new look to otherwise tired sarkari content and give opportunity to hire new people with new content. Others disagreed, arguing that the new channel would take too much time to establish itself and might fritter away the advantage of viewership numbers that DD News has right now.

         DD News has seen several changes in the last one month. Efforts have been made to reinvent the channel with the evening prime time and breakfast news getting new anchors and packaging. There has been some uneasiness over the changes among existing employees of Prasar Bharati.

          Prasar Bharati officials said preliminary work had begun on the international channel including devising a business strategy for downlinking. Among the first markets being considered is Africa. Africa is a soft target where Indian content is viewed positively, in fact actively sought for. The distribution cost of launch in Africa is not expected to exceed Rs 5 crore annually. The stakes for India in the continent are also high and the launch of DD India will be highly visible, sources said.
 

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