HISTORY is in the making. In more ways than one, as India's electoral process hurtles towards a climax with the 11th Lok Sabha elections. On the 10th floor of a five-star New Delhi hotel, CNN International's makeshift control room is abuzz with activity as presenter Riz Khan, flown in from the US, readies himself for the American news network's first live programme from India on World News Asia.
The excitement is palpable. Everybody's on edge. But Khan, in formal attire even as the merciless summer sun beats down on him, is ice-cool. He's a pro. But that's not the only reason for the clockwork precision on show as he flits from Delhi to Patna, from where a report about poll-related violence is voiced in over the phone, then to Hong Kong to catch up with Patricia Chew, and finally back to Delhi to interview an Indian political analyst. It's teamwork, hours of meticulous planning, and, above all, perfect coordination between Atlanta, Hong Kong, New Delhi and other Indian cities.
If the scale of the Indian general elections is awesome, as it has always been, what has added immensely to its gargantuan dimensions this time around is the largest-ever deployment of manpower and equipment to bring the results live to millions of TV viewers all over the world. Indeed, the television-elections interface will have notched up several firsts by the time the process culminates. For one, it is not Prannoy Roy's NDTV alone that is in the thick of the action. The world's two largest television news organisations—BBC World and CNN International—are, for the first time, right where the buzz is. After all, it is the first Lok Sabha polls in the age of satellite TV. And India is understandably the flavour of the month. Worldwide. "Our coverage is primarily for a global audience," says Riz Khan. "So we are avoiding the specifics and concentrating on the general contours of India's democracy."
CNN International's poll-time operation, bolstered by its strategic alliance with DD, is manned by production personnel and reporters from its offices in Tokyo, Bangkok, Hong Kong, Atlanta and, of course, New Delhi. While Khan's presentation is transmitted live via VSNL's microwave network to Atlanta, recorded reports from the state capitals are physically flown out to London to be uplinked to CNN's headquarters. But phone reports from various parts of the country are carried live on World News Asia.
The pace at BBC is less breathless. But the British network, too, has secured special permission from VSNL to go live on May 9 and 10 to cover the poll results. Its 30-strong India bureau will convey the excitement to viewers the world over.
However, the preparations of the foreign networks don't match the sheer magnitude of Prannoy Roy's live operation for DD. Consider the logistics: over 3,000 production staff spread across the country, a satellite-based computer network, 30 OB vans transmitting live signals, fully manned studios in all major cities of the country, 250 million captive viewers and a multi-crore-rupee advertising goldmine. For the first time, a private company, Amitabh Bachchan Corporation Limited (ABCL) has bought the marketing rights of live poll analyses. ABCL sources are sure that they have struck gold: "The viewership will cut across the entire spectrum of TV households. Could the advertisers have asked for more?"
Down South, Vijay TV, owned by liquor baron Vijay Mallya, will use the Internet to gather and disperse news for a vast Tamil audience who have no access to cyberspace. Says Rabi Bernard, who will anchor the live news show from Singapore from May 8 to 10: "We will not use the VSNL network extensively as the cost is prohibitively high."
But Sun TV will. The popular Tamil channel will have two teams—one in Singapore to take care of the breaking news, the other in Madras to analyse the poll results. While the Singapore segment will be uplinked directly, the Madras signals will be sent to the earthstation via VSNL. Says Kalanidhi Maran, MD, Sun TV: "Advertising revenue is encouraging. I might make a small profit."
Clearly, elections in the time of satellite TV is mega scale entertainment.
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