Cabinet to decide on HDTV for 2010 Games

To allow state broadcaster Prasar Bharati to undertake the telecast of next year’s Commonwealth Games from Delhi in High Definition (HDTV) format, the Union Cabinet is expected to take a decision in this regard on Thursday.

Under the CWG rules, it is mandatory for the host broadcasters to produce a feed of the Games in this format. Since Doordarshan is the host broadcaster, it has to do so.

HDTV format requires at least three times more bandwidth compared to the standard telecast currently used by most broadcasters in the country. However, both picture and sound quality in this format is far superior, say technical experts.

According to government sources, once the Cabinet clears the proposal, Doordarshan will upgrade its infrastructure in Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai to broadcast in HDTV format. The government has already provisioned around Rs 220 crore in 2009-10 towards the programming for CWG 2010. A part of this amount will be utilised for upgrading existing hardware of Doordarshan Kendra across the four metros, sources indicated.

The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (I&B) has already shortlisted five broadcasters and their consortium partners, from which the contract for the production of CWG 2010 will be awarded to one, based on financial and technical bidding. Tokyo Broadcasting, Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, USA’s International Sports Broadcasting and International Games Broadcast Services are among the five international production companies that are said to be in the race.