Dd Turns Net-Savvy

It's now Door- darshan's turn to become Net-savvy. It is negotiating with Satyam and Microsoft Mag- ic for setting up infrastructure for one of its first verticals, ddnews.com. There are plans to offer on-demand services later.

We are close to finalising our alliance partner for the Net initiative where the focus initially will be on ddnews.com with streaming news," Prasar Bharati chief executive R R Shah told Business Standard, adding, "The choice is either between Satyam Broadvi- sion or Microsoft Magic."

According to Shah, the alliance partner will build the platform for ddnews.com which will be part of a mother portal, tentatively being called dd.com. Ddnews.com is expected to get functional within a couple of months.

 

Both Microsoft Magic and Satyam made presentations before the Prasar Bharati last week.

DD's Net initiative was recently okayed by the Prasar Bharti board and DD will be investing about Rs 3 crore for setting up ddnews.com which includes hardware and bandwidth acquisition costs.

Ddnews.com, according to Shah, will not only have news bulletins aired on DD News satellite channel, but also content which goes beyond the bulletins. "For this a separate infrastructure will be set up," he added.

The main aim, Shah pointed out, is for DD to become a major player in the world of Net too. "We have a huge library of content which can be exploited for Net ventures," he added.

Meanwhile, as part of another Net initiative, DD has been seeking an alliance with infotech companies like Pentafour and US-based Homeland.

Prasar Bharati is looking at value-added service like providing information on hand held devices through All India Radio.

DD, which recorded a massive revenue mopup of Rs 610 crore during 1999-2000, is also exploring technical assistance and programme exchange schemes with the likes of Time Warner and BBC.

DD's earlier highest revenue was Rs 572 crore in 1996-97. DD1(National Network), touched a revenue figure of Rs 317.50 crore in the first fiscal.

The previous high being rs 283.55 crore in 1996-97. However, last fiscal DD Metro, once upon a time DD's golden goose, had shown a drop by managing to mop up revenues of Rs 46 crore, down from rs 73.51 crore during the corresponding period previous year.

Prasar Bharati has set itself a revenue target of about rs 775 crore with DD's contribution being projected at around Rs 650 crore. The rest is AIR's projected revenue figures.