Narendra Morar, Commissioning Editor, BBC World

More than a hundred television channels are vying for eyeballs across the country. And many more regional and national channels are slated to join the bandwagon in the immediate future. The television segment is in the throes of cataclysmic changes prompting even an established player like BBC World to find new ways to grab viewership in the intensely competitive television news and information segment. BBC World has introduced several India-specific programmes in recent years, such as ‘Moneywise’, ‘Wheels’, ‘Face to Face’ and ‘Mastermind India’.

Going forward, the channel has positioned itself as a source of news and information for the upwardly mobile, decision-maker segment of society. But whether the segment would take BBC World as the first choice source of national news is still an open subject. Media reports suggest that even the SEC A and A1 markets that BBC World caters to would actually opt for some of the Indian channels as first source of news. However, BBC Commissioning Editor, Narendra Morar, underscores that outside of Europe, India is the most significant geographical segment for BBC World. The Zimbabwe-born person of Indian origin commands over two decades of experience in television which is reflective in this vision of the future of television. Morar never intended to enter television but landed with a commercial channel in 1982 after completing his PhD in African Studies from the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), London. In 1987, BBC headhunted him, and by 1995-96 he came to head the multicultural programming for BBC World. Morar talked about the future of television medium in an interview with Rajiv Raghunath of exchange4media.com.

Q. What are the potentials that you see in the electronic media?

To me, digital television holds the key to the future. In fact, in times to come the television viewer may have options for different kinds of uses and experiences from a single box. Right now, people use the medium in a passive way. But, say, ten years from now a viewer would be able to build a schedule of his own on what to view, as opposed to the linear approach now. Broadband can make this happen. So, the whole experience would be different, and the programming challenges could be of a different kind.

Q. Is the Indian television news segment moving in the right direction?

It will evolve in the way it does. The market will decide whether it wants pure news channel or masala. Many of them may not last once the level of advertising reduces.

Q. Coming back to your observation on convergence, when do you think it will all happen?

Nobody knows. There could be computing power on TV, but when and whether it will be used, nobody knows. If computing power comes into play, channels as they exist will die.

Q. Are you pro-actively preparing for the future?

Programming is an art and one goes by intuition. Five or ten years is a long way off. The product cycles are much shorter. And success lies in keeping everything simple. For instance, the success of KBC may be attributed to its simple format. So, it is difficult tell how much preparedness is there to keep pace with emerging technology.

Q. Commercially, what is the challenge like?

Well, there is still not much money in the segment. And there is the need to balance the viewers’ needs with the commercial requirements. Of course, for BBC World not all programming is strategically commercial. Programming remains an art.

Q. What is your reading of the Indian television segment? Would you say that the commercial aspect has whittled down the quality of programming?

It’s a question of choice. It were the commercial offerings that helped the television segment grow here. As the market matures, specialists will come in. Five years ago, how many news and information channels were there? Today, one is seeing niche channels come up in various segments such as children’s, documentaries and so on. Eventually, there will be mass market channels and niche channels.

Q. How seriously is BBC World looking at the Indian market?

After Europe, India is the biggest market for BBC World. In fact, we commission commercial programmes only in India and Pakistan. We don’t do region-specific programming in any other country right now. We also have a large news bureau here.

Q. Is there really a market for niche channels? Niche will have big money.