The Business Of News

Doordarshan Samachar; 9 pm: Star News; 9.30 pm: BBC's Hindi News on Home TV; 10 pm: Aaj Tak on DD Metro; 10.30 pm: Zee News. For viewers keen to plug into the world around them and make sense of it, prime time never ends.

As the audience swells steadily, the need for a constant flow of information grows dramatically. As news programmes inch their way towards the midnight hour, TV channels and software companies, even those that were hitherto dedicated to general entertainment alone, are veering round to the view that it is not enough anymore to churn out a tripey concoction of soaps and sitcoms, quizzes and hit parades, mythologicals and horror shows. Hard news, harder talk—these are the current favourites of broadcasters seeking to expand their programming menu.

The formula has been discovered. It is the success of Star News, Aaj Tak and, to a lesser extent, Zee News that has fuelled the current affairs television boom. "Our prime-time viewership reaches its peak during Star News," says Rathikant Basu, Star TV India CEO. "Because of the runaway success of Aaj Tak, DD Metro's prime time today extends till 10.30 pm," says Rahul Dev, the new anchor of the TV Today-produced Hindi news programme. "In the past, Doordarshan did have a number of news-related programmes. But what is happening now is certainly a major revival," says psephologist and news anchor Vinod Dua. Making news has never made more sense. And this, by the look of things, is only the beginning.

Star TV, in collaboration with Prannoy Roy's New Delhi Television (NDTV), is ready with a 24-hour news channel that will go on stream as soon as the Broadcast Bill is passed by Parliament. Zee TV, which is all set to increase the frequency of its Hindi and English news bulletins from November 1, is reportedly seriously considering the launch of a round-the-clock information channel. Sony Entertainment Television (SET), a channel that makes no bones about its reliance on Hindi cinema for inspiration, is close to sealing a deal for a substantial news segment in its daily bill of fare.

Software houses, too, are making calculated forays into the current affairs business. The Mumbai-based Sri Adhikari Brothers Television Network, known primarily for the countdown show All The Best and the sitcom Shriman Shrimati, have signed on Karan Thapar, Home TV's former programming chief, to develop a clutch of news-related concepts.

Current affairs shows are expected to be the new weapon in SET's arsenal as it prepares to take on Zee TV, "programme for programme". With shows like Boogie Woogie, Star Yaar Kalakar and the horror show Aahat, the channel has managed to achieve the near-impossible: give Zee a run for its money. And now it is negotiating with BBC and Dua's software outfit for the creation of an all-Hindi current affairs band. "The move," says P.C.

Lahiri, vice-president, Zee Telefilms, "confirms that the demand for news is growing. No channel can afford not to add current affairs programmes to its menu."

IS Dua actually joining Sony? Dua himself dismisses the report as "incorrect". "I have had meetings with them," he says. "But it is absolutely wrong to say that I will be heading an in-house news division." BBC sources in Delhi claim that their talks with SET is at an advanced stage and it is only a matter of time before its Hindi news bulletin shifts from Home TV. The Rs 3 lakh per bulletin BBC-Home TV contract is in trouble primarily because the Hindustan Times-Pearson-Carlton joint venture is facing a severe cash crunch. "Home TV is in a Catch-22 situation. The BBC News is its costliest programme, but it is also the channel's most watched show. They sink if they don't opt out, they lose their best show if they do," says a BBC source.

Home TV is an isolated case. All the other major channels are apportioning a crucial role to news and current affairs programmes in their expansion plans. "It is a good sign that even entertainment channels are giving news and current affairs shows the play they deserve," says Aaj Tak's Dev. There is no doubt that viewers are all for it. Says Lahiri: "We are only responding to audience feedback gathered from the 60,000 to 70,000 letters that we receive every month."

The channels are, indeed, reacting to market reality. So is Sri Adhikari Brothers Television Network. "We are a corporate house. We can't be  serial-makers forever," says Markand Adhikari. As a "full-fledged production house", it would be his company's endeavour to "mount all kinds of programmes—from daily soaps to daily news", he explains. Hence Karan Thapar. The Delhi television personality has been assigned the job of creating the infrastructure for a news show within "the next one year".

In the meantime, in addition to In Focus, which still airs on Home TV despite Thapar parting ways with the channel, the Adhikari Brothers are producing Special Session, a panel discussion involving Members of Parliament. The show, moderated by Thapar himself, will be launched on Star Plus on November 22. A Hindi talk show, tentatively titled Vichar Manch, produced by Thapar and anchored by Dua, is also on the Adhikari Brothers' ever-busy anvil.

Clout, respectability, higher viewership, greater advertising revenue—what is it precisely that is drawing TV channels to the business of current affairs? "We want to create a new image for ourselves," says Adhikari. "With current affairs shows, we hope to consolidate the gains made in the past six months," says a SET source.

The new Hindi talk show that Dua will host for the Adhikari Brothers is not the only reason for the doubts over the SET 'offer'. Dua is currently developing a show titled Round Table for Doordarshan's primary channel. Besides, the newsmagazine show, Parakh, is on the verge of returning to Doordarshan. If it does, Mandi House is likely to bar Dua from working for a private satellite channel. When Prannoy Roy took his News Tonight from DD to Star Plus last year, his other major show for the national broadcaster, Good Morning India, was promptly axed.

DD's loss has turned out to be Star Plus' gain. Good Morning India, along with Star News, the new avatar of the News Tonight, and Star News Sunday have together brought the channel a committed viewership. "Star News is our most successful Indian programme," say Star officials. Though Mandi House makes no such claims for Aaj Tak, the latter has emerged as the benchmark for other players in the business. "Aaj Tak is going from strength to stregth," says Dev. "So successful is it that Zee has been compelled to push its News back by 30 minutes to avoid the competition." For Aaj Tak and all other news shows, the future can only be better. Except Aaj Tak, no private news programme has access to uplinking facilities at present.

But once the Broadcast Authority of India is in place, mandatory uplinking will be enforced. While that may create some problems for the foreign satellite channels that uplink from outside the country, it will dramatically liven up the content of news shows. Bigger, better, more exciting and all live and hot: that's the way the news will go in the new year. That can only be good news.