NEW DELHI: Sab TV spends around an average of seven per cent of its revenue on marketing its programmes, ranging across all channels and other media.

Sab TV EVP and business head Anooj Kapoor told indiantelevision.com that the amount may vary between five to ten per cent.

He also said it was erroneous to say that Sab TV was advertising its promos only on Sony channels as efforts were made to reach out to other channels like the news channels as well.

He said there had been a 600 per cent growth since it was taken over by Sony. This was despite the fact that this was the only television channel in the world which had only comedy series at prime time.

Kapoor was speaking on the sidelines of press meet to announce the launch of the second series of the popular series ?Lapataganj? which had ended in January this year but had been brought back on popular demand. Several of the actors were also present.

He said the Indian advertiser was not tailored for rural audiences, but ?Lapataganj? had managed to gain good commercial support despite being based in a village in an era when almost all the series were urban and based in high middle class or high society.

Asked why there was little advertising for the old classic films that the channel showed at weekends, he said this would take away the attention from the channel being comedy-centric.

Referring to the revived series, he said ?Lapataganj? had moved on six years in the new series, and therefore now had electricity, water, mobile phones and even cable television.

However, the frustration of the average Indian about electricity and water being there with cuts, mobiles that take away the attention from the immediate family etc. would continue to be reflected. In other words, he said the revived series was also satirical in its style.

The new series also has some new characters, but this also brings new problems for the villagers. The show will continue to trace the journey of the common man who struggles for basic amenities yet lives a fulfilled life. The show, based against the backdrop of rural India, is directed by Ashwini Dhir and produced by Garima Productions and will go on air starting 10 June at 10.00 pm.

Continuing with the premise of ?Aam Insaano Ki Zindagi Se Judi Khass samasyaaen?, Lapataganj Ek Baar Phir brings back the everyday struggles of the common man.

Lapataganj Ek Baar Phir captures the essence of rural India through the beloved couple Indumati (Sucheta Khanna) and Mukundi (Rohitashv Gaur), with popular characters such as Kachua Chacha (Vineet Kumar), Chukundi (Sanjay Chaudhury), Eiji and Biji Pandey (Abbas Khan), Surili (Aditi Telang), Mishri Mausi (Shubhangi Gokhale), Chotu Mama (Anoop Upadhyay), Elizabeth Yadav (Krishna Bhatt) and Lallanji (Rakesh Srivastav).

NEW DELHI: Concerned of the huge gap between revenue and expenditure, a parliamentary committee has refused to accept the excuse that Prasar Bharati being a public service broadcaster is not principally guided by commercial consideration.

In its report on the budget of the information and broadcasting ministry for 2013-14, the parliamentary standing committee for information technology has expressed regret that ?nothing concrete? has been done despite the ministry itself expressing the apprehension that ?if this trend continues it would result into wiping out the entire available reserve of Prasar Bharati and the organisation may find itself in immense financial distress.?

The committee noted that the gap between the revenue projected and the revenue earned by Prasar Bharati has been increasing year after year. It expressed concern over ?the increasing disparity between the revenue earned and expenditure year after year.?

During the year 2011-12 and 2012-13, the revenue projection was Rs 1650 crore and Rs 1815 crore respectively and the revenue receipts for the years were Rs 1409.54 and Rs 1263.56 crore (up to February 2013). This meant a gap of Rs 240.46 crore in 2011-12, and Rs 551.44 crore in 2012-13 up to February this year.

The committee finds that during the year 2010-11, the gap between revenue earned and expenditure was Rs 1633.73 crore which increased to Rs 1931.03 crore in the year 2011-12 and further swelled to Rs 1376.32 crore in 2012-13.

The committee was also ?dismayed? to note that during the year 2012-13, the revenue generated by All India Radio and Doordarshan was Rs 1263.56 crore and expenditure incurred from Internal and Extra-Budgetary Resources (up to February 2013) was Rs 1583.43 crore leading to a gap of Rs 319.87 crore between the revenue earned and expenditure met out of IEBR.

For the Twelfth Plan, the proposed IEBR was Rs 5000 crore while the approved IEBR was Rs 1000 crore. For the year 2012-13, Rs 400 crore had been earmarked under IEBR component but was reduced to Rs 200 crore at Revised Estimate Stage.

The committee said: ?It is astonishing to note that despite widening gap between revenue receipt and expenditure, the target for IEBR during Twelfth Plan have been reduced to mere Rs 1000 crore.?

The committee therefore wanted to know the rationale behind the steep reduction in IEBR target and how it is proposed to meet the burgeoning expenditure without generating IEBR. It wants the Ministry to re-visit this vital aspect. The Committee would await necessary details in this regard.

The committee appreciated the aggressive marketing strategies being adopted by Prasar Bharati, and noted that Prasar Bharati is also exploring the feasibility of revenue generation by utilizing the extra space commercially by installation of ATM machines, installation of electronic displays for advertisements of private parties, launching of IVR/SMS based services to provide news headlines and letting of FM transmitters to private parties.

While these were good initiatives, the committee said it was ?not satisfied with the pace of progress as so far only one office of Prasar Bharati has been identified for installation of ATM and the Ministry/Prasar Bharati are yet to make a survey of their total land and buildings to assess spare infrastructure.

The committee wants Prasar Bharati to make ?more rigorous efforts in the asset management area and try to generate more revenues by adopting aggressive marketing strategy and better professional handling of the marketing division which in turn will make it financially more viable and secured?.