TV Channels Urge EC To Lift Ban On Poll Campaign Ads

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When asked whether broadcasters, who met under the aegis of Indian Broadcasting Federation (IBF), will take recourse to legal option, Zee's additional vice chairman Jawahar Goel told reporters, "We have many options" but declined to give any details.

"We told the Commission about the legal position and what has been happening in the past," Goel said, adding the broadcasters will also meet information and broadcasting secretary Pawan Chopra later in the day on the issue.

On what was the response of Krishnamurthy, Goel said: "EC has said it is for the government to take a decision."

Earlier on Tuesday, IBF secretary general N P Nawani had said that a ban on political advertising on private TV channels will deprive these channels of business worth crores of rupees.

"Besides forcing private channels to lose business worth crores of rupees, such a ban does not seem logical since the EC did allow political advertising earlier," Nawani said.

He said IBF represents 22 major broadcasters and 94 television channels.

Last week while the parliamentary poll dates, the EC had announced that no political advertising would be allowed on private television channels, after Information and Union Broadcasting Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad had written to the poll body seeking clear directives on the matter.

Plans For Coverage: Meanwhile even as they wait for Krishnamurthy’s response after their meeting, major news channels, including Star News, Zee News, Aaj Tak and even international channels like BBC, have lined up extensive plans to cover the largest election process in the world.

With the Election Commission kicking off the process with the declaration of poll dates, Zee News has plans for at least 250 hours of programming to cover the elections, Aaj Tak has lined up detailed coverage from almost all constituencies.

Star News also has plans of comprehensive coverage and international channels like the BBC will go the extra mile to follow the elections.

"We will engage more people and equipment than before," said Lakshmi Goel, head of Zee News. Zee News' rival Aaj Tak has launched an array of new programmes and segments in addition to its existing programming.

The initiatives, which are being implemented in a phased manner, will mark the run-up to the elections. The election-related programming initiative of Aaj Tak has been christened Chunaav 2004: Aap Ki Sarkar.

As per Rajesh Sheshadri, TV Today spokesperson, "Election coverage has been our forte and we always lead in innovative content and format."

Star News' election special has been called Kaun Banega Pradhanmantri, which will consist of pre-election, election and post-election programmes. The channel is also working on a plan to get leaders of all the major political parties on its channel.

"The voter is younger than before, the programming will have to be relevant and involving. It will also be supported by on-ground activities on an unprecedented scale," said Ravina Raj Kohli, president, Star News.

The BBC said it would have more journalists for the purpose than any other international news organisation.

According to BBC's South Asia bureau chief Paul Danahar, "The outcome of the elections will be a story of global importance and we'll be treating it that way. Our special poll coverage will be spread over BBC World, BBC World Service and bbcnews.com."

The BBC coverage will be in Hindi, Urdu, Tamil and Bengali on BBC World Service radio and its websites -- bbchindi.com, bbctamil.com, bbcurdu.com and bbcbengali.com. There will also be an interactive site on the BBC online news service, www.bbcnews.com, which records 20 million page views every day.