NEW DELHI: With March 24 announcement of launching three new Doordarshan channels, the Union government seems to have not only gone back on its promise of giving autonomy to the electronic media but it has also scuttled the moves that were on to have an independent and privately funded channel as an alternative to Doordarshan,

This is because all the new proposed channels would be under complete administrative and financial control of the government as against an earlier Information and Broadcasting Ministry (T&B) proposal seeking to set up a second national television channel under a joint stock company with the government holding just about a maximum of 20% equity in it.

Under the revised government thinking, private sector will only have to play a limited role in the formulation of the new channels, Private producers will be allowed time slots on the new channels on the lines of the current metro channel, And the scheme in operation for the ‘metro hour,’ even by government’s own admission is “hardly different” from the old sponsored category programs in operation on Doordarshan for the last over seven years.

Earlier, hopes on privatization of the sensitive electronic media had actually arisen mainly on account of the recommendations of the two expert committees set up during the last year and a half in the ministry. Both the Vardan Committee, headed by K. Varadan, additional secretary, and the Mahalik Committee, headed by S.C.Mahalik, in their respective reports favored a far greater role for private firms in the electronic media in India in the changed global media scenario.

Apparently the thinking in the government has recently under gone a major change. It may be recalled that the proposal on having an independent private channel was mooted by the former1&B minister, Ajit Kumar Panja, just about two to three months, before he was shifted out of the ministry.

Described as the “most favorite scheme” of Panja, a consortium of big business houses was envisaged to take upon itself the responsibility of running the proposed private channel.

Article extracted from this publication >>  April 2, 1993