Switchover from Metro to News has DD in red

Despite all the gloss surrounding Doordarshan’s News channel, officials are not exactly smiling their way to the bank. DD revenues as of today stand at Rs 279.96 crore, down by Rs 100 crore from the same time last year. It seems unlikely that the broadcaster is going to catch up with its Rs 553.81 crore target last year.

In fact, revenues have been sliding after 2001 when it touched a high of Rs 637.5 crore. Repositioning DD Metro into a news channel has taken its toll. DD Metro, the only DD channel earning Rs 50 crore and more, was shut down to make way for the government design of a 24-hour news channel with public money

All India Radio too has not fared any better from Rs 131.05 crore last year — it stands at Rs 66.96 crore as of November 30, 2003. While DD officials said they were hopeful of making money from cricket, it seems unlikely that they will be able to catch up to the Rs 500 crore mark by March-end.

Story continues below this ad

In the next financial year the picture may be rosy as DD moves to attract revenues, advertisers and big-league producers.

Sixty brands like Hero Honda and Emami have committed over Rs 25 lakh for the News channel.