Prasar Bharati CEO K.S.Sarma retires in June

Indiantelevision.com Team(22 May 2006 12:30 pm)
NEW DELHI: Indian pubcaster Prasar Bharati would soon be headless unless thegovernment, too busy with other issues like reservation for backward classes ineducational institutions, hurries up.
On 30 June 2006, Prasar Bharati CEO KS Sarma retires after serving an overfive-year term that can be easily termed a roller-coaster ride.The present chairman of Prasar Bharati, veteran journalist MV Kamath, wasappointed during the tenure of previous government, headed by the right-wingBharatiya Janata Party. Meanwhile Sarma, a veteran of Prasar Bharati (he officiated as the DG ofDoordarshan when he was a joint secretary in the I&B ministry in the mid to late1990s) has seen over five ministers at the information and broadcastingministry, which controls the purse strings for the publicly funded PrasarBharati.Despite allegations of nepotism during a time when DD used to outsourcemarketing of big events, including the money-spinning cricket matches involvingIndia, a wily Sarma has come out unscathed.It was during Sarma's tenure as the CEO that DD floated its subscription-freeDTH service, which raced ahead of the country's first pay TV DTH service, DishTV, in terms of subscribers.For the financial year ended march 2006, for the first time Prasar Bharaticlocked a gross revenue of Rs 12.38 billion with Doordarshan clocking Rs 9.68billion and All India Radio 2.7 billion that signified a growth of 67.67 percent.

Some of the achievements during Sarma's tenure included the following:
1. Increased focus on pro-active in house marketing of properties.
2. Successful execution of media campaigns on behalf of government departments.
3. Rationalization of rate cards to suit the changing market conditions.
4. A strategic shift from Sponsored Programmes to Self Financing Scheme.
5. Introduction of blockbuster Hindi Feature Films on DD National and marketingthem in-house.
6. Leveraging AIR's vast network and unprecedented reach.
7. Narrowcasting programming strategy.
8. Publicity support for programmes to create awareness, especially among C & Saudience.
9. Improved billing and housekeeping efforts.

(Indiantelevision.com)