Doordarshan to launch infotainment channel soon?

New Delhi: The national broadcaster, Doordarshan, is soon likely to wade into uncharted territory as it prepares to attract niche audience through launch of a dedicated infotainment channel.

Sources said Doordarshan is set to take on the domination of international networks in the field of infotainment by launching its own dedicated channel. The national broadcaster is in talks with foreign and national production houses to partner with it for production of dedicated programmes and documentaries.

It is understood that the proposal for starting an infotainment channel for the public service broadcaster was made in an effort to fill the gap for a channel that telecast programmes related to science, wildlife, nature and history. Currently, Doordarshan telecasts infotainment programmes on its various channels and does not have a special channel dedicated to serving the needs of this kind of specialised programming.  

By creating such a dedicated channel, Doordarshan hopes to make inroads into the niche market so far dominated by several foreign channels like Discovery, National Geographic and History TV.

Sources said the agenda will come up for discussion at a board meeting soon. The keenness of Doordarshan to add this genre of channel to its kitty is based on the fact that the infotainment content does not suffer from the drawback of getting old and can be used repeatedly, and also has dedicated market.

Doordarshan claims to reach over 90 per cent of the Indian population through a network of more than 1,416 terrestrial transmitters. At present, there are about 67 Doordarshan studios producing TV programmes.