NATIONAL 4 - (Spotlight Weekly)

"The Most Important Thing Is To Establish Credibility"

— DURGA NATH SHARMA

DURGA NATH SHARMA, general manager of Nepal Television (NTV), takes pride in having started satellite transmission of the national television channel. He spoke to SANJAYA DHAKAL about the technical, investment and software-development challenges of taking NTV to a global audience. Excerpts:

Why was satellite transmission important? What kind of technology is in use now?

For a mountainous country like Nepal, satellite television is the best option to carry the footprint to every nook and corner. We have been trying to uplink our channel via satellite for many years. I am happy to say that this has finally materialized within less than a year's preparations. Until now, our transmission was thrown terrestrially from our Singh Durbar station. We had a mother station at Phulchowki hilltop, which relayed the transmission to other parts of the country. Being a terrestrial transmission, the high hills proved to be barriers and, though we had relay stations scattered across the country, the quality of picture that reached viewers in, say Ilam, became extremely poor. Now, we have piggy-backed on Nepal Telecommunication Corporation (NTC) to make use of the IntelSAT (to which NTC is a signatory). Our transmission now travels from Singh Durbar to the Balambu-based Sagarmatha Earth Station, which is owned by the NTC, via optical-fibre placed underground. The digital signal is thrown up 36,000 km to the satellite transponder at 66 deg E 9 Mhz, which then throws it back to earth. This signal can be received by a satellite receiver. But there is confusion among people here that this satellite signal will be automatically received by their TV sets. That is not so. You have to have a receiver and decoder to catch the signal. In fact, we are trying to build enough Low Power Transmitters (LPT) around the country so that people can receive our signals without a receiver. That will mean the people would not have to pay a single penny to watch our satellite signals. At present, we have 11 such LPTs. We are constructing seven more within the next two years. But they will not be enough. We need at least 30 LPT stations to be able to provide our transmission across the country. Another thing is, we could also have introduced the latest technology called Direct To Home (DTH). But it would have been expensive and each individual home would have been required to spend extra money to receive signals this way.

What are the major benefits of transmitting through satellite?

There are three important benefits. The first is quality. Earlier, the quality of NTV was not very good. Its signals were poor even within the capital valley. Every time there was a risk of lightning, we had to shut off the Phulchowki station, thereby plugging off our transmission beyond the valley. Now this problem has been resolved. The second benefit is that our footprint now covers the whole of Nepal. If you have a dish antenna, you can watch NTV from any corner of the country. As we have cable operators even in villages these days, it would not be expensive for them to buy a decoder worth seven or eight thousand rupees to receive our signals and distribute them to individual homes. We even may not want royalty from them. The third benefit is that now we have crossed our national boundary. Our footprint now covers Asia -- Japan, China, Mongolia, SAARC countries, Singapore and Middle East. Our transmission is via regional beam.

What was the investment required for satellite transmission and how did NTV manage to raise it? How do you plan to recover your costs?

The satellite transmission required an investment of Rs 100 million. We received Rs 50 million from the government and obtained another Rs 50 million as loan from the NTC. The cost of equipment and others was around Rs 45 million. Wherever possible, we have shared equipment with the NTC to save costs. Every year, we will have to pay Rs 25 million to the IntelSAT as rental charges for the transponder services. By going for satellite transmission, our costs have definitely increased. We plan to recover the costs by increasing ad tariffs. Since, now our footprint has increased, I am sure Indian companies, for whom Nepal is a good market, will find it cheaper to promote their goods through NTV. Likewise, we have decided to increase by 20 percent the charge we have imposed on private time-buyers like Divyadrishti and Shangrila. This year our revenue target was Rs 120 million but we are going to collect Rs 150 million. And this is all without any aggressive marketing. I am sure with rigorous marketing we will be able to increase our revenue to Rs 200 million next year.

A difficult part of satellite transmission would be improving the programming content, how is NTV looking at this facet?

Exactly, you can get latest hardware by paying money. It is more challenging to develop quality software. At present, I agree that all programs of NTV are not up to the mark. There are some sponsored programs that are doing really well, but others are not good enough. We are serious about this. We plan to continue with the sponsored programs and replace others. In fact, from next month, we will be introducing programs like "Nagad Paanch Lakh" to provide a new look. Our news and current affairs programs will also be improved. We will increase news time and introduce live interviews as well. We are also planning to increase our transmission time to 24 hours. But we need the help of the private sector for this. We will sell our time to them. Currently the slot after 11pm is available for sale. We are receiving some proposals, too.

What about the metro channel?

As a national television, we have certain social and other obligations. So it has been felt that we need a separate metro channel to cater to our viewers. This entertainment channel will run commercially. The Chinese government has shown willingness to help us in this regard by providing grant assistance. From September this year, they will be constructing a modern 300 sq.m. station and 72-meter-high tower within our premises on turn-key basis. In the beginning this channel will be limited to Kathmandu Valley with the prospect for satellite uplinking after that. It will be completed within one or one and a half years.

Does NTV plan to join hands with cable operators to actually make its presence felt?

As far as Nepal is concerned, the government policy is such that the cable operators have to compulsorily air national channel. Besides, as it is not expensive to install decoders, this should not be big problem. In villages too, the local District Development Committees (DDC), can provide fund to the cable operators to buy decoders and things like that. We have talked with DDC people regarding this and they seem positive about the idea. As far as foreign countries are concerned, we are having numerous responses. People from Hong Kong have approached us.

People think NTV will now be able to counter negative publicity from foreign channels.

It would be wrong to think so. You cannot compare the reach and penetration of BBC, CNN or Star TV with NTV. Definitely, we will provide Nepali version of events and news. We will be doing our best to preserve our national identity. We will be transmitting programs promoting tourism and culture. Definitely, aware people will watch our side of the story but that may not be true in general. The most important thing is to establish credibility. Otherwise, it will make no difference. This depends on how the government wants to proceed with NTV. Whether it wants to make it a mere parrot or give certain leeway.

How will our artistes benefit from satellite transmission?

This is the age of television. Even in India you see cinema superstars working in television because of its reach and coverage. So the transmission will have positive impact on our artistes, too. If they want to come to the small screen, we will welcome them.