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AIB INTERVIEW
How did you come to work at NDTV?
I was working as an Avid NLE editor for a
TV-advertisement production company in
Mumbai (then Bombay), and had to move
to Delhi due to some family-related
issues. On arrival in Delhi, I dropped in
my CV at NDTV on a whim – two days
later I had met Radhika & Prannoy
(NDTV’s promoters) and landed a job, and
I am still here nine years later!
New Delhi Television started off as a
production company – what were the
challenges you faced in developing into
a fully fledged broadcast operation?
Before it became a broadcaster, NDTV
produced 100% of the content for the
Star News channel. We were producing
the channel live-to-air with a backhaul
link to Star, Hong Kong, and they were
combining it into their MCPC bouquet.
We were therefore already geared up to
produce and put on air one channel on a
24x7 basis. Additionally our work
practices were honed over a period of five
years to work on a round-the-clock basis.
In terms of the systems, the two main
challenges that we faced were firstly
doubling our output to produce and
simultaneously air two news channels –
NDTV India in Hindi, and NDTV 24x7 in
English, and secondly distribution for the
DTO-driven Indian market.
Why has the Indian broadcasting
market been so buoyant when others
have suffered an economic downturn?
In essence it is a reflection of the way
the country is moving ahead. The
economy has been very good and the
growth rate among the highest in the
world. When industry as a whole does
well, the broadcasting sector benefits
from greater ad spends. Our work force
is extremely talented, motivated,
innovative and hard working. Media is
genuinely free in this country and the
government hardly plays a role.
What gives NDTV the edge in the Indian
broadcasting market?
There are 45 million cable and satellite
television homes in India – nearly 200
million viewers. An equal number watch
terrestrial TV. That makes it a huge market.
New Delhi Television is India’s largest
private producer of world-class news,
current affairs and entertainment
television. We are home to the country’s
best and brightest reporters, anchors, and
producers and our 19 offices and studios
across the country host India’s most modern
and sophisticated production facilities.
Since NDTV was formed in 1988, it has
become the preferred television choice
of Indians. Spanning entertainment,
news, and business, our programmes are
synonymous with quality. As a result,
NDTV programmes enjoy a larger
viewership and higher ratings than any
of their competitors.
As an organisation, NDTV has a simple
but unwavering commitment to one
cause: to use our extensive expertise,
experience, technology and reach to
create unparalleled coverage of the latest
in domestic and international news and
entertainment for our viewers, at home
and around the world.
Research shows that NDTV is now a
leading brand name, inherently
associated among viewers with quality
production and television hallmarks.
Are the working practices in NDTV any
different from those of your
competitors?
The mission of the organisation is to
ensure the timely delivery of news
content to the highest standards of
credibility and accuracy. To achieve this
it is essential to have a highly motivated
and dedicated work force that is
competent and constantly maintains the
best traditions of journalism, production
values and quality.
NDTV has a cohesive, positive work culture
with low staff turnover and a strong
retention track record. Forming part of a
relatively new industry, the organisation
has a young and youthful work force with
all the dynamics of such demographics. In
such a situation, one important factor is
that of ‘quality experience’ vis-à-vis
conventional experience norms. The
organisation has recognised this and HR
policies take into account the quality factor
being the all important differentiator.
As against traditional hierarchical
structures in other sectors, this sector
has fewer differentiable responsibility
levels and therefore fewer hierarchies.
Despite this NDTV has met the growth
and job profile aspirations of its
workforce, ensuring high job satisfaction.
Regular compensation surveys have
ensured that NDTV salaries are in the most
competitive levels and brackets.
Let’s look at technology and its
implementation in broadcasting. How
do you think workflows in broadcasting
are going to change in the future?
Broadcasting workflows have already
undergone a sea-change over the last
three years, mainly due to the entry (and
cost-effectiveness) of IT-based solutions
in this sector. A few years ago, broadcast
engineers would turn up their noses at
PC-based solutions because of their
inherent instability issues – they are now
experiencing the cost-efficiency benefits
of “going digital/tapeless”. Technology
in the IT world has grown exponentially
in the last few years as compared to
broadcast engineering, and driven by this
I see newsroom workflows changing
tremendously, especially in the areas of
newsgathering, editing and archiving.
Newsgathering will get simpler with the
advent of non-linear cameras with built-
in wireless Internet connections to
upload stories.
Editing will get cheaper and easier to
use with “professional” versions of
consumer software – indeed there are
companies out there offering workgroup
editing systems, with on-air automation
and machine control for a third of the
price of the big daddies – this will allow
fence-sitters to make the move to going
tapeless.
Finally archiving (and retrieval) will
change drastically – cheaper digital
storage means that we would no longer
selectively archive material; voice-
recognition and voice-to-text software will
get more accurate, allowing the creation
of meta-data on-the-fly without hours of
logging, and the meta-data would allow
us to search for and recall footage from
near-line and deep archives in seconds.
At the cutting edge of Indian broadcasting
NDTV is one of the main players in Indian television, delivering large audiences while running
a cost-effective broadcasting centre.
Rahul Deshpande
, NDTV Systems Manager, talks to
Kerry Stevenson, hard on the heels of collecting an engineering award at the Commonwealth
Broadcasting Association General Conference in Fiji.
