Yes, we may stop Aaj Tak: Prasar CEO

NEW DELHI, JAN 27: An open war has broken out between Aaj Tak and Prasar Bharati over the continuation of Doordarshan's only independent ...

NEW DELHI, JAN 27: An open war has broken out between Aaj Tak and Prasar Bharati over the continuation of Doordarshan’s only independent news programme. Close on the heels of Information and Broadcasting Minister Pramod Mahajan’s statements on the need for a uniform news policy for DD1 and DD2, Prasar Bharati CEO O P Kejriwal has said he might discontinue the Monday-Saturday 10 pm news bulletin after March 31.

He has said that it was TV Today, the producers of Aaj Tak, in fact, who raised the issue about the bulletin’s continuation when they said it was no longer commercially viable. “A final decision will be taken only after all of us in Doordarshan sit together on this matter but it was they who approached us for a change of time slot and when I said I could not accommodate them as I didn’t have enough replacement shows between 10 and 10.30 pm, they threatened they would go off the air,” says Kejriwal.

A TV Today spokesperson vehemently denied the claim saying it was the CEO’s idea togive them the 10.30 pm slot (which has a lower telecast fee) when they asked for a reduction in fee. “We made a representation to Prasar Bharati three months ago, pointing out that the market is down and DD’s also lost out on viewership, which the commercial wing of DD accepted in principle.” Aaj Tak had got a six-month breather between July and December 1997, when both their telecast fee and free commercial time was halved.

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But then at the end of December, says the spokesperson, “Kejriwal called us and said a fee reduction would not be possible. He suggested we accept the 10.30 pm slot and we did.” Aaj Tak was slated to start at the later timing of 10.30 pm on January 4 but again they were informed that it would not be possible until April 1, when their contract was to be renewed for another year.

That, says the spokesperson, was the last they heard of it, until a week ago, when newspapers started reporting the Minister’s statements on a uniform news policy. Kejriwal says the decisionon Aaj Tak is independent of this news policy, of which “I read only in the newspapers.”

Aaj Tak, which crossed 1,000 episodes last week, is the only privately produced news programme on DD2, previewing of which was stopped by former CEO Surrindar Singh Gill after he took over in November 1997. TV Today, the producers, are part of the Living Media group which publishes the weekly magazine, India Today.

The only other privately produced news programme on DD is Khas Khabar on Calcutta Doordarshan, with whom Prasar Bharati is embroiled in a legal battle.