DD Direct to drop carriage fees for add-ons

The Prasar Bharati is all set to drop the concept of charging carriage fees of Rs 1 crore per broadcaster for hosting their channels, a move that is likely to attract host of news, entertainment and music channels on Doordarshan's free direct-to-home (DTH) service, the DD Direct Plus.

It is also looking at launching value-added services like movie and game-show channels to make DD Direct an attractive proposition for its 40-lakh subscribers.

"The response to carriage fees has not been good, so we will review it. We will also look at possible additions of value-added services on DD Direct Plus," CEO Prasar Bharati BS Lalli said.

Carriage fees were introduced in 2005 amid opposition from several broadcasters. Only four channels out of the 33 on DD Direct have paid Prasar Bharati.

But the absence of carriage fee will not attract popular pay channels like Zee and Star to come on DD Direct, as the free-to-air nature of the service will clash with their revenue models.

"Our business model is based on being pay, so we will not come on-board. But for several other genres like music, news, and religious channels, it could be a good opportunity to get viewership," Arun Poddar, CEO of Zee-Turner, the distribution arm for Zee channels, said.

The movie and game-show channels will open up new revenue streams for Prasar Bharati. But unlike Tata Sky or Dish TV, the two private DTH players who charge Rs 35-70 per movie from their subscribers, the DD Direct viewers will get them for free. Advertising will generate revenue on these movie channels, sources said.

At present, movies generate Rs 90-100 crore in advertising revenue for Doordarshan through its terrestrial network. "Movies get us good viewership. The digital quality of DD Direct Plus will also get us decent advertising revenue, thereby opening up new revenue stream," a senior Doordarshan official said.

A committee has been put in place to recommend steps to overhaul DD Direct Plus. "DD Direct will change its satellite from NSS-6 to Insat-4B by April and request for additional transponders on the satellite has been send to the Department of Space. We will make DD Direct very attractive for our viewers," Lalli said.