The Prasar Bharati Board has approved the restructuring of Doordarshan to separate its creative functions into a dedicated vertical for handling content operations. The public broadcaster has authorized the search and selection committee headed by Prasar Bharati chairman Surya Prakash to select suitable professionals for the roles of Chief Content Officer and Channel Heads on a contract basis, At its 156th board meeting.
Information & Broadcasting Minister Shri Prakash Javadekar had said creative head will soon be appointed for Doordarshan to enhance the quality of its programmes. The board requires suitable professionals with 15-20 years experience in broadcasting with specialisation in news/culture /arts /entertainment/sports and other genres of relevance to public broadcasting, having leadership roles over the last five years, preferably at a large network with responsibility for one or more channels with a nationwide viewership footprint. As per Prasar Bharati statement, it was also indicated at the meeting that identified professionals must be tuned into the goals and responsibilities of the Public Broadcaster as mandated by Parliament.
While the Chief Content Officer will be responsible for the content/creative functions and operations across the Doordarshan network (National and regional channels) in line with the goals and objectives of Prasar Bharati, the Channel Heads are expected to manage individual channels in line with the Content and Channel Strategy. With this restructuring, Prasar Bharati intends to move professionalism into its content and creative functions in line with state of the art trends, production values, industry best practices.