The Doordarshan Kendra, Puducherry, has quite an establishment here. But, unless you still use the antiquated rods and pole contraption that were in vogue during the early days of television, chances are that you are completely out of DD’s loop.
As DD Puducherry telecasts only in the terrestrial mode, even cable operators are not willing to come forward to beam its signal.
Every year, nearly Rs.10 crore is spent on salary paid to 80 employees working here. Given the meagre allocation of Rs.15 lakh for production of programmes, the unit generates about two hours of content every day.
An engineer here says, “One needs to erect old-type Yagi Antenna in his house to watch our programme. Technology has developed very fast since the 1990s. Viewers migrated to satellite TV channels through their cable operators. Our programme is only telecast through the terrestrial mode. No one is able to watch our programme.”
DD Puducherry was inaugurated on August 15, 1992, by Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting Ajit Kumar Panja. The objective behind establishing it was to create special television on the lines of regional channels such as DD Podhigai in Tamil Nadu and DD Malayalam in Kerala. Now, DD Puducherry is not viewed in its own soil.
This kendra has a NEC-make 10-KW Solid State Transmitter for the terrestrial telecast of DD National/DD Regional (Tamil) and local programmes and a BEL-make 100-watts low-power transmitter for terrestrial telecast of News. The transmitters are co-sited and installed at Villianur, 9 km from the Kendra, and linked to microwave.
A staffer says, “This kendra originates programmes from 5.05 p.m. to 7 p.m from Monday to Friday in the terrestrial mode. These are primarily live phone-in programmes on health, current affairs and education.”
Another staffer adds, “The live phone-in programmes on Wednesdays have been getting good response from Puducherry and parts of Tamil Nadu close to Puducherry. All these are in-house programmes.”
As the telecast is on the terrestrial mode in order to cover the areas of Karaikal, Yanam and Mahe and other nearby areas in Tamil Nadu, three half-an hour slots were allotted in DD-Podhigai satellite channel. One slot was on Friday at 5.30 p.m. for a children’s programme, other two air-slots on every Saturday between 1.05 p.m. and 1.30 p.m. and 2 p.m. and 2.30 p.m. to telecast health programmes produced by DD Puducherry, and another programme, called ‘Puduvaikkalanjiam,’ a compilation of local events and news on a weekly basis.
On occasions such as Tamil New Year, Deepavali, Christmas, New Year, Pongal and the birth and death anniversaries of important personalities, special programmes are recorded and sent to Chennai to be telecast on DD Podhigai.
The Puducherry kendra lacks a news and research unit. Important events in Puducherry are being recorded and sent to DD-News and DD Kendra, Chennai, through feeds in addition to the weekly compilation.
G. Chandra, deputy director, says they have apprised the higher-ups about the situation.
Staffers say the authorities should invest in technology upgrade for the kendra.
