DD Kisan mired in fights over content

Many key officials have quit the channel and there is now internal wrangling over the content to be telecast

Months after it had celebrated its first anniversary — DD Kisan, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ambitious television channel for farmers, is mired in fresh controversies.  Not only has the channel lost some key officials, who were part of its original team, but there have also been allegations of a concerted attempt to change the overall focus of the channel — one where there the content could have been more fictional than non-fictional.

More than 600 ‘monitors’ appointed by the channel on April 2015 on an honourary basis, have been terminated. Officials said these monitors were used to being the ‘eyes and ears’ of the channel. Monitors submit inputs on important agriculture developments in their respective regions as well as giving feedback on different programmes. They connect with farmers and artisans. Though an infotainment channel (one which focusses on both information and entertainent), it was only natural to expect DD Kisan to be focused more on information rather than entertainment. However, officials said in the past few months the entire focus of the channel was being changed to movies and fiction programmes.

In fact, there is a section within the channel which is in favour of repeating the telecast of Hindi feature films, shown on Saturdays and Sundays — on the grounds that these movies get more viewership while the programmes before and after their telecast also attract eyeballs. Repeat telecast of movies cost 50 per cent less than their first show, hence lowering the cost of content.If the channel’s overall revenue increases through movies, then it would also help other programmes. It would also encourage private producers to apply for programmes under sponsored category. All these in turn would improve the channels visibility.

MIRED IN CONTROVERSY

• More than 600 ‘monitors’ appointed by the channel on April 2015 on honourary basis, have been terminated
• Officials said these monitors were used to be the ‘eyes and ears’ of the channel
• Monitors’ submit inputs on important agriculture developments in their respective regions
• They connect with farmers and artisans
• Being an infotainment channel, it is supposed to focus both on information and entertainment
• Officials said in the past few months, the entire focus of the channel was being changed to movies and fiction programmes

However, another section does not favour blocking slots with repeat telecast of movies. They say it would lower the channel’s dignity. Meanwhile, the channel which has seen a drop in viewership, from a high of 19.5 million in week eight to 4.2 million in week 18, is planning a slew of new programmes, more direct interaction with farmers and a big outreach initiative to expand its footprint.It claims to have an original content of about 10 hours while the normal average for most channels is about six to seven hours.

The channel has planned to hold nationwide conclaves and consultations involving heads of gram panchayats and pradhans to create buzz around the channel and also display its content in village fairs to ensure that more people watch DD Kisan. But much of the plans and programmes for DD Kisan and the channel's future depends on the programmes it telecasts and  how it manages internal wrangle.