Pvt broadcasters to promote South Asian identity

New Delhi, Apr 2: Several private broadcasters from South Asian countries have come together to produce and air TV programmes in an effort to nurture the identity of the region and promote goodwill and undertanding among its countries.

They have formed an organisation Southasian with representatives from India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka as the platform to achieve their objective.

''We want to rediscover and reinforce a South Asian identity based on shared history, civilisation and culture,'' said Mr Rathikant Basu Chairman of the Boradcast Worldwide, the host broadcaster, at the formal launch of the 'Southasian' here today.

Representatives of broadcasters said they had great hope from the project as the electronic media had a massive reach and was the only medium that could break political and geographical barriers with ease.

The programmes of 25 minutes each will be aired simultanoeusly by all Member broadcasters at 1830 hrs India Standards Time once a week initially, starting from coming Sunday.

They will carry news , special features, reports on cultural events, interviews with celebrities from the region.

The broadcasters are NDTV, India TV and TARA TV from India, Channel from Dhaka, Maharaja TV from Sri Lanka, Aaj/Geo TV from Pakistan and Image TV from Nepal.

The members will contribute content which will be edited and packaged at Kolkata.

There will be an Editorial Board representing the member countries and it will meet regularly.

The launch was attended by Mr Shahid Nadeem of Aaj TV, Mr Narayan Rao from NDTV, Mr Rajat Sharma from India TV, Mr Chevaan Daniel from Majaraj TV, Mr Faridur Reza Sagar from Channel 1 and Mr Ram K Mananadhar of Image TV besides several eminent mediaperosns and artistes.

UNI