Calcutta : Khas khobor, one of the most popular Bengali programmes on news & current affairs, is likely to lose some of its slots on government-owned Doordarshan, according to DD sources. The programme, produced by Rainbow Productions of Mr Ramesh Gandhi, is telecast four times a day on DD1, with a simultaneous evening broadcast on DD7.The other Rainbow productions - Mukhomukhi or face-to-face, morning news capsule Supravat, mega soap Janmobhumi and Aajke - are shown only on DD7. Khas Khobor became an instant hit with viewers when it was launched, being the first hard-hitting, private Bengali news channel. As it is shown on DD1, it has a good viewership. Ever since DD7 became cable-free in August, the viewership has increased.
The DD sources said the ministry of information and broadcasting is likely to take away some slots. "It is pointless to show repeats four times day - there is repetition as reports hardly get updated so frequently unless they are extraordinary events," the sources said.
In fact, even Mr Gandhi has stated that he expects the number of slots to be reduced. He made the statement on "Din Pratidin", a daily programme produced by Zee's Alpha Bangla and conducted by Rainbow.
According to sources in DD's commercial department, Rainbow pays Rs 69,000 for the 20-minute slot at 6pm, although the minimum guarantee is Rs 2.95 lakh. DD sources said that Rainbow pays Rs 10,000 for the prime-time slot and Rs 5,000 for non-prime slot.
The DD official also said that Janmobhumi, a very popular family soap, will not cross 1000 episodes. "Surprisingly, it was sanctioned 1,000 episodes against the 104 given initially, while quite a few software developers are waiting with good productions including news & current affairs magazines," the official said. He said some production houses here can match Rainbow's paying capacity but are being kept out.
According to DD officials, some of Rainbow's slots may be given to ABP TV, owned by the ABP group, publishers of the largest selling Bengali daily, Ananda Bazar Patrika.
ABP TV's chief operational manager, Mr Manash Chatterjee, said the company is not in a position to launch a full-fledged Bengali satellite channel for 24 hours. "Rather, ABP TV is negotiating with all Bengali satellite channels for providing quality software, - something that viewers are missing," he said.
ABP TV is also waiting for a DD decision on sale of slots. "So we are neither planning to launch a channel or take some slots on DD," he said.
Copyright © 2001 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
