60 percent TV homes to watch Games ceremony: Doordarshan official

NEW DELHI - The grand opening ceremony of Commonwealth Games (CWG), telecast live by Doordarshan (DD) Sunday evening, was expected to be viewed by about 60 percent of the estimated 130 million TV homes in the country, an official said.

We are expecting around 60 percent eyeballs of the total TV homes in the country, Aruna Sharma, Doordarshan Director General, told IANS.

She said the countries participating in the Games had also made arrangements to air the opening and closing ceremonies and events of their interest.

Sharma said her team had worked hard to make arrangements for telecast of the opening and closing ceremonies and the sporting events.

We are in full readiness. With good wishes of every Indian, everything should go well, she said.

For the first time in their history, the Commonwealth Games (CWG) are being produced in high definition (HDTV) - a format that offers stunningly real picture quality and theatre-like sound quality.

The International Broadcasting Centre (IBC), located in Pragati Maidan, will serve as the nerve centre of broadcasting activities.

The right-holding broadcasters, who have been provided nearly one-third space within IBC, can customise the basic feed provided to them by host broadcaster Prasar Bharti and send their signals either through satellite uplinking service or international fibre service.

Doordarshan will telecast the Games in both high definition and standard definition format.

A new channel - DD HD - will telecast the event in high definition format while DD Sports will provide round-the-clock transmission in standard format.

DD National, DD Urdu and DD Bharti, DD News and regional channels will also telecast Games-related events. Doordarshan will also produce 30-minute highlights every day, focussing on the performance of Indian athletes.

The showpiece event Sunday was covered by over 350 cameras. Helicopters are also to be used the ceremonies at Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium and a few road events while underwater cameras have been installed for aquatic events.

Interviews of athletes, cultural events and side stories of the Games will be covered by 25 mobile camera units.

Cameras have also been installed at landmarks like Qutub Minar, Connaught Place, Red Fort and India Gate to add visual content to the telecast. DD has tied up with a British entity, SIS Live, for production and coverage of the Games.

Apart from being the technical hub of Doordarshan, the IBC will provide facilities like linear and non-linear edit suites. It will also have space for putting up dish antennas.

About Rs.366 crore ($81 million) has been spent on production, coverage and telecast of Games. Doordarshan will share the revenue earned during the Games with the organising committee.

The broadcaster will get 30 percent of the revenue earned by the committee through international telecast rights.

The IBC will also have a round-the-clock office for gathering and distributing all broadcast related information.