Doordarshan faces boycott

Producers of sponsored serials telecast by the federal government owned Doordarshan in stations in South India will take off their serials in a phased manner from October 6 to protest the hike in telecast charges, claiming also there are more problems hitting them.

Producers in Bangalore acted earlier withdrawing their serials on September 12 and together they met in Bangalore on Friday for the first time, forming an association in the process called the All-India TV Federation, South Zone, to lobby their case. The federation also held talks with Doordarshan officials. Later, they submitted a memorandum to Doordarshan directors in Bangalore Chennai, Hyderabad and Thiruvananathapuram.

The federation will be headed by Sudhakar Pallamala of Srikanth Entertainment, Hyderabad, who has produced serials like Ruthuragalu and Kasturi and Kalyan J. Yakaiah also from Hyderabad as its media consultant. Producers first protested the hike in telecast charges, then went to other issues. The volume discount scheme and bulk booking scheme are the other problems also discussed on Friday. Doordarshan hiked its service tax in August with retrospective effect from April 1.

The Hyderabad Doordarshan director Prasad Rao said talks with the producers were on. According to Rao, the producers also wanted Doordarshan to scrap its surcharge of six per cent and increase the number of episodes from the present figure of 130. While a boycott exists in Karnataka, a blackout of sponsored serials is expected to begin even earlier in Thiruvananathapuram -from October 1. Hyderabad and Chennai will join the boycott on October 6.