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TARA
to source programming from RPG
TARA (Television Aimed at Regional Audiences), the cable television
channel of Rathikant Basu’s Broadc-ast Worldwide (BWW),
has entered into a deal with the RPG group for airing programmes
developed by noted anchors of RPG Cable Radio and HMV cassettes
and compact discs. The RPG people would also develop the software
for the programmes, industry sources said.
TARA has similar tieups with The Indian Express Newspapers
and Ananda Bazar Patrika (ABP) groups for production of news
& current affairs programmes. ABP TV is producing Soja
Sapta (Straight Talk) anchored by Suman Chattopadhyay, executive
editor of Ananda Bazar Patrika, who interviews celebrities
in the programme. BWW plans to launch two more Bengali channels
for entertainment and movies and is getting ready to beam
a south Indian and either a Marwari or a Bhojpuri channel
soon. At the moment, it has four regional channels - Bengali,
Marathi, Gujarati and Punjabi - under the TARA name.
According to TARA officials, soon there will be many new programmes,
all contemporary, sensitive, sophisticated and issue-based.
They, however, refused to elaborate the contents. "Quite
a few in-house productions and serials borrowed from Doordarshan
are in the pipeline," an official said, adding, fresh
projects from the outsiders would be received from September
1. On the other hand, several private producers have accused
TARA of ‘inviting projects and rejecting them for no
reason.’ Rates for time slots are high too, they complained.
An aggrieved producer said, "they are charging Rs 1 lakh
for half an hour in the prime time and Rs 70,000 in non-prime
time. It is better to wait for DD or go to other Bengali satellite
channels." According to TARA officials, three producers
have been contracted and the channel has no plan to entertain
any more soon. Industry sources are saying BWW is soon going
to lose STAR’s five per cent stake which TARA officials
strongly deny. Sources are also saying that Abhijit Dasgupta,
executive director, is unwilling to continue in TARA. He wants
to beam TV Today’s Khabar Ekhan on TARA which the higher
authorities are not allowing, they say.
These sources say that RPG’s relations with Living Media’s
TV Today is under strain. "Khabar Ekhan may be ta-ken
out from CCCN and CTVN, but it is not clear where it will
pop up next," they said. According to TARA officials,
everything is baseless. They say, "STAR will be here
with us. Abhijit Dasgupta will continue his service in a wider
way."
Chandan Banerjee
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