MUMBAI: Not to be outdone by private channels lining up fresh programming in the new year, Prasar Bharati too is gearing to make its presence felt. 

The pubcaster has issued a tender in leading dailies inviting proposals for the metro channel of Doordarshan (DD-2) under the sponsored category for prime time, mid-prime time and non-prime time slots under the revised fee, free commercial time (FCT) and guidelines of sponsorship of programmes issued by Doordarshan.

Prasar Bharati has invited proposals for Hindi weekly serials, daily soaps, sitcom, musical or talent hunt shows, countdown shows, and suspense thrillers for its prime time band (8:00 pm to 10:30 pm ). The telecast fee for programmes without / with repeat is Rs 1,00,000, with 180 seconds FCT for shows without repeat and 150 seconds FCT for repeated/ film based programmes.

For the non prime time band which has a telecast fee of Rs 10,000 with 240 seconds FCT, proposals have been invited for a breakfast show, shows on old film melodies, cookery, personality based shows, educational and informative programmes, daily soaps, talk shows, variety entertainment, fashion, youth oriented programmes and comedy shows.

For the mid prime time slot (9:00 am to 11:00 am) proposals have been invited for similar programmes whereas for the 7:00pm to 8:00 pm slot the pubcaster is on the lookout for game shows, talent hunts, film based shows, Antakshari, chat shows and the likes. The telecast fee for the band is Rs 35,000 with 240 seconds as FCT.

The tender which invites proposals from 'experienced television and film producers', specifies that DD may telecast the approved programme at a time slot other than the one applied for but within the same time band. Moreover, all the programmes telecast on DD metro (except sports and imported programmes)will be repeated over DD-India within seven days of initial telecast or at a time decided by Doordarshan without any commercials. 

The proposals will be accepted till 5:00pm on 31 January 2003.