New Delhi: The government is reviewing the bids for broadcasting the 2010 Commonwealth Games even though an informal decision was earlier taken on Prasar Bharati's joint venture partner for the job, it is learnt.
In all, five bids from private players (names not disclosed) have been shortlisted by host broadcaster, Prasar Bharati, for outsourcing the 14-day Games telecast scheduled for October 2010, sources said. One of the hopefuls is believed to be a large business house with interest in the media sector.
After taking charge as the information and broadcasting (I&B) minister, Ambika Soni has identified coverage of the Commonwealth Games as a priority area for the government. An empowered committee, comprising top officials of Doordarshan and All India Radio, is looking at the Commonwealth Games telecast issue.
While there were protests all round against Prasar Bharati outsourcing the event coverage to a third party, top officials pointed at the mandate of the Commonwealth organising committee that the TV broadcast of the games should be in high-definition format. On its own, Prasar Bharati may not be able to meet this criterion, they argued.
Prasar Bharati had invited expressions of interest (EoIs) for coverage of the Commonwealth Games earlier this year, following which the I&B ministry's parliamentary panel member Hanan Mollah had sought Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's intervention in the matter. Mollah said the step to outsource the coverage of the games was against national interest.
Meanwhile, Soni met Prasar Bharati board member Utpal Bhattacharya on Saturday to discuss significant issues related to the public broadcaster. "It was a courtesy call. But the health of Prasar Bharati naturally came up for discussion," Bhattacharya told DNA Money. Competition from private TV channels was among the issues discussed, it is learnt.
Soni spent most of her weekend in her office at Shastri Bhavan, updating herself with industry issues. Ficci president and industrialist HP Singhania was among the visitors at the I&B minister's office on Saturday. Singhania said, "I told the minister about multiplicity of taxes in the sector, especially the film industry." The growing gaming industry was also discussed.
Last week (on June 3), Bharti group chairman Sunil Mittal had called on Soni. Bharti had recently entered the media business with its direct-to-home (DTH) service. Besides Soni, Mittal met finance minister Pranab Mukherjee, commerce minister Anand Sharma and corporate affairs minister Salman Khursheed last week.


