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Mr K.S. Sarma

Hyderabad , Dec. 28

THE Union Government has given its in-principle nod to bring about an amendment to the Cable Television Networks (Regulation) Act to empower officials of the All India Radio and Doordarshan to take action against cable operators who do not transmit Doordarshan's national channel, news channel and at least one regional language channel.

"A notification to this effect will be issued in 10 days," Mr K.S. Sarma, Chief Executive Officer of Prasar Bharati, said.

Addressing a news conference here on Sunday, he said cable operators discriminated against DD channels though they were required under the law to show the channels in the prime band (1-12 channels).

"Some vested interests seem to be responsible for this," he alleged, without elaborating on who the vexed interests were.

Terming the blockage as `unjust', `betrayal' and `unfortunate', he said Andhra Pradesh stood first on this count. "The State, which has the highest cable TV penetration at 85 per cent, stands first in violating the Cable law. Only 6 per cent of cable operators in small towns show DD news in the prime band," he said.

"But they (cable operators) have their own problems. They are asking for a single-window system to pay a variety of taxes being slapped on them. We will look into the problems."

Of the 70,000 cable operators in the country, Andhra Pradesh is home to 20,000 cable operators. The fact that 40 per cent of the 40-crore television viewers in the country have access to cable networks shows the importance of transmitting DD channels on which the Government spent huge amounts.

Commenting on the `success' of DD's dedicated news channel, he said the channel now stood second next only to Aaj Tak when it came to viewership. "Moreover, within two months of the launch we could achieve the Rs 2 crore revenue target set for the financial year. Our target for the next financial year is put at Rs 27 crore," Mr Sarma said.

Referring to the mushrooming of news channels, he said the channels, which offered "balanced news" and those that did not "manufacture news" would stay.

He admitted that DD news needed improvement on the presentation front. Stating that the corporation took a decision to allow film telecast on DD network on a 50:50 revenue sharing basis, he criticised the practice of selling the terrestrial rights of films.

"This amounts to restrictive trade practice. This is a fit case for filing a public interest litigation," he said.

He said the `news over phone' service might become a toll-free service. "We are in talks with MTNL and BSNL for revenue sharing on a 50:50 basis," he said.

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