Saptagiri channel programmes not up to the mark  says DD Director General

               Sapta giri, the Telugu regional channel of Doordarshan, has to pull up its socks to remain competitive, Doordarshan Director General Aruna Sharma has said.
With the rise in production costs, Doordarshan is now planning to produce programmes in one language and later dub them into other regional languages, she said. Presently, the production cost of a programme is about Rs 25,000 per programme.
             With the new decision, three regional centres would produce the programme at a cost of Rs 75,000 and it would be dubbed in other languages later.
           “It is certain that expectations on Saptagiri channel are high and we are not up to the mark. But we are planning some programmes to change the the image of the channel,’’ Aruna Sharma said.
Doordarshan is also planning to start an innovative reality show in April next. However, she did not divulge any details of the programme. Prasar Bharati was gearing up to cover the prestigious Common Wealth Games by outsourcing the production aspect to SIS-Life, a subsidary of BBC, at a cost of Rs 240 crore, Aruna Sharma said and added that the 1982 Common Wealth Games coverage is considered a milestone in the history of Prasara Bharathi.
        The 300 staff members of Doordarshan would be trained by BBC in sports coverage in the coming few days, she said and added that Doordarshan’s coverage of the recent World Badminton Championship at Gachibowli, was of high quality. “I have received appreciation from international community and officials of other sports channels including ESPN and Star Sports.
        We have used nine cameras during the coverage. The revenue generated from this event is Rs 69 crore,’’ she said. Doordarshan has set a target of Rs 950 crore revenue for this year as against the average Rs 750 crore annually.