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Is a turnaround of ‘floundering’ Prasar Bharati on the cards?
Doordarshan and All India Radio are the broadcasting arms of Prasar Bharati.
Facing depleting cash reserves, falling TRPs (television rating points) and an overall decline in performance, public broadcaster Prasar Bharati is floundering or so it has told the ministry of information and broadcasting, under which it is an autonomous body.
Prasar Bharati, whose broadcasting arms are Doordarshan and All India Radio, blames its restricted decision making on issues such as appointments, promotions and revenue generation as impediments in the trajectory of its growth.
After a 90-minute presentation on the public broadcaster on Tuesday, information and broadcasting minister M Venkaiah Naidu asked the board to function more effectively to live up to the challenge of growing competition in media space. He denied interference and said the ministry would “only like to create an enabling environment” for better functioning.
“There were administrative backlogs and the government has already cleared departmental promotions after a gap of many years. The ministry will be fully supportive of all initiatives it would like to take,” MoS Rajyavardhan Rathore said.
He said help from experts would be taken to improve content, technology and functioning at all levels.
According to sources, the ministry has indicated it will work with Prasar Bharati to examine the suggestions for its resuscitation, which include revenue rejig.
Prasar Bharati has been underlining the issue of revenue deficit for the past few years. It has brought to notice that after paying salaries to its casual and contractual staff, which include several advisors, it is forced to dip into its reserves.
In this financial year, government offered Rs 2,600 crore for salaries of the employees in addition to Rs 350 crore, but last year it was even less than that. The channel had to spend Rs 1,500 crore on salaries from its own fund, while it earned only Rs 1,200 crore last year.
The government has offered Rs 2,600 crore for salaries of the employees in addition to ` 350 crore, but last year it was even less than that. The channel had to spend Rs 1,500 crore on the salaries from its own fund, while it earned only Rs 1,200 crore last year
According to the channel’s former member, Prasar Bharti spends only 13% on the producing content against BBC, which spends 71% Marketing has seen revenues falling from Rs 1,470 crore in 2013-14 to Rs 1,270 in 2015-16
The broadcaster has blamed interference from the I&B ministry in appointments, revenue generation and promotions for its floundering condition.
