DD move to hike rates,tweak norms for Direct Plus,upsets private players

Public service broadcaster Prasar Bharati has just made its free-to-air DTH platform,DD Direct Plus,more expensive and restrictive for private broadcasters.

Public service broadcaster Prasar Bharati has just made its free-to-air DTH platform,DD Direct Plus,more expensive and restrictive for private broadcasters. While it looks to generate revenues of at least Rs 80 crore in carriage fees in 2011 on the back of hiked up rates,a lack of transparency in the selection/rejection of channels has upset private broadcasters.

However,Prasar Bharati is unfazed as 100 private channels have already sent in their requests to join DD Direct Plus platform,which will give it a minimum of Rs 80 crore in carriage fee revenue next year. This is a 260 percent jump over 2010 when it is said to have made a meagre Rs 22 crore. Experts say Rs 80-crore annual revenue from carriage fees alone will make DD Direct Plus the highest revenue earner in its category,even exceeding the carriage earnings of all six private DTH operators,including Dish TV,Sun Direct,Tata Sky,Digital TV,Big TV and D2H.

Currently,DD Direct hosts 36 private channels,all of whom have to pay a carriage fee. But recently,Prasar Bharati hiked the per-channel,per-annum carriage fees rate from Rs 60 lakh to Rs 80 lakh for local channels and Rs 1.5 crore for foreign channels up from Rs 1.2 crore.

Therefore,all the existing 36 channels will have to fork out more money or face eviction from the DD Direct Plus platform. In order to demonstrate its seriousness,Prasar Bharati recently removed eight channels without assigning any substantial reasons even though broadcasters were willing to pay more,sources said.

However,Prasar Bharati is simply looking to maximize its revenue,as by early 2011,it will be able to offer 100-plus channels as opposed to the current 59 since it is adding transponder capacity on its satellite. And this is the reason Doordarshan now wants every private channel to cough up more in carriage fees and comply with its own selection criteria,sources said. However,paying at the hiked up rates alone will not guarantee private broadcasters an assured spot on DD Direct. Private broadcasters allege that the lack of transparency in Prasar Bharati was a big reason why the rates were hiked suddenly. Recently,Prasar Bharati removed eight channels Music India,Care World,ETC Music,Time TV,Zee Jagran,Zee Smile,Enter 10,and Total TV while another half a dozen channels may face the axe soon,sources said. However,Zee Turner,the distributor of channels like Zee Smile,ETC and Zee Jagran has already taken Prasar Bharati to court,citing lack of transparency in the selection/rejection criteria adopted by the public broadcaster.

There is no criteria for hiking the carriage fees. And even if it has,Prasar Bharati should give the first right of refusal to the channels that are already on its DTH platform. There is no transparency in Prasar Bharati, said a senior executive of a regional channel which is on DD Direct Plus.