Panaji: DD Goa, the state-owned terrestrial television station operated by the public service broadcaster Doordarshan, could face serious problems in taking its programmes to the houses of its viewers, as Prasar Bharati, the statutory autonomous public broadcasting agency handling Doordarshan Television Network and All India Radio, has asked the Goa Doordarshan centre located at Altinho to shut down its in-operation high power transmitter by October 31, 2021.
DD Goa currently transmits its programmes for three hours every day by way of analog signals, with the help of this 10 KW high power transmitter.
Prasar Bharati has taken a policy decision to shut all analog transmissions from its 455 Doordarshan centres in India, in three phases and replace the same with digital Direct-to-Home (DTH) transmission. Furthermore, the 7,500 excess staff working at these centres is to be redeployed immediately as per the Prasar Bharati HR policy.
DD Goa, which is currently transmitting its programmes in Konkani as well as Marathi languages, initially started relaying Mumbai Doordarshan as well as national network programmes in Goa from 1982, with the help of a weak 1 KW transmitter. In 1986, the transmitter was upgraded to 10 KW covering entire Goa. Furthermore, in 1990, the Doordarshan Kendra Panaji with programme generation facility (PGF) status started telecast of local programmes for duration of 30 minutes from Monday to Friday, which has now been extended to three hours per day, throughout the week.
DD Goa channel is currently also available on Doordarshan’s DTH platform – DD Free Dish – as one of the channels of Prasar Bharati. After the transmitter at DD Goa’s Altinho television centre ceases to operate from October 31, those who are currently availing this channel with the help of television antenna would have to get a DD Free Dish and a set-top box to watch the same.
“The other option for these viewers is to avail the DD Goa channel from direct broadcast satellite service providers like Tata Sky, Dish TV and so on,” a source at DD Goa informed, pointing out, “However, presently, these service providers do not telecast DD Goa channel.”
Interestingly, these direct broadcast satellite service providers do telecast Doordarshan channels like DD Sahyadri (Mumbai Doordarshan) and other Doordarshan channels, which work round-the-clock for 24 hours, unlike DD Goa, which has only three-hour programmes – from 4 pm to 7 pm – every day.
The DD Goa sources further informed that Prasar Bharati finds it difficult to continue the terrestrial television transmission due to the expenses incurred on electricity and excess staff, as well as maintenance and repairs of the equipment. “Furthermore, the world has also moved from analog to digital transmission now,” they maintained.
The sources, however, expressed concern that many of the regular viewers, who were following DD Goa’s terrestrial transmission regularly, may now not be able to watch these local programmes after October 31. “They will have to either instal the free-to-air DTH dish with the set top box, or hope that the Tata Sky or any other direct broadcast satellite service providers telecast DD Goa programmes,” they noted, hoping that the government will convince the direct broadcast satellite service providers to do so.
The DD Goa sources also maintained that it is very difficult for DD Goa to run its programmes for 24 hours, as the Altinho-based Doordarshan centre has restricted resources as well as infrastructure, besides the small size of Goa offering limited opportunities to produce more programmes.
“The tower erected at the Goa DD centre in 1983-84 will be redundant once the transmitter stops operating from October 31,” the DD Goa sources maintained, suggesting that just as the Mumbai Doordarshan is currently using its 300-metre television tower at Worli for transmission of FM programmes, the DD Goa could also do so.
The shutting down of the 10 KW transmitter at DD Goa could end the limited viewership, which the programmes generated by this television centre presently has because neither these viewers seem to be inclined to buy a dish and set top box for regularly watching just three-hour programmes nor they can currently avail the channel on Tata Sky, Dish TV or any other such satellite service.
