MUMBAI: It will be an evening of song, dance and reward for hard working folk in the television industry. The third annual Doordarshan Awards will take place on 22 November in the suburb of Goregaon at the Sports Club from 6:45 pm onwards.
 

In all 54 trophies will be handed out. There has been an expansion this year. Five administration Awards have been added for each of the country's zones. In the programme category there are 32 awards up for grabs. These include promo, best Kendra, animation, sports, women's. DD has tied up with Wizcraft for the event. At a media briefing this afternoon DD Sahyadri head Mukesh Sharma noted that the surge of a more competitive work structure, an well as recognition of excellence had resulted in improvement in in-house software production.

I&B minister Ravi Shankar Prasad will be the chief guest. Also present will be Maharshtra's chief minister Chhagan Bhujbal. Attendeees will see performance from the likes of Shaan, Sonu Nigam, Usha Uthup, Gurdas Mann. Lending a touch of glamour to the occasion will be stars from the television and film industry such as Star India CEO Peter Mukherjea, actor Jitendra, film director Shutosh Gowarikar.

Also present at the briefing was the Prasar Bharti chairman V Kamat. When asked by Indiantelevision.com as to the manner in which DD News would be functioning he pooh poohed talk that the channel would basically be a mouth piece for the government.

"DD News is a completely independent channel. There is no external pressure whatsoever. It was set up with the purpose of functioning autonomously and that is what we are doing. In fact if you have been watching us we have done stories and news features that have criticised the government. We also cover the news better than anyone else out there and as time goes on we will continue to improve."

The channel also put out figures that back his claim. Tam data is for 3-11 November c&s 4+ for all Hindi news channels. DD News has a cumulative reach of 22 per cent. Only Aaj Tak is ahead with 26 per cent. Star News is beind with a share of 20 per cent followed by Zee News with 19 per cent. NDTV India has a share of 18 per cent.

The story is similar for the audience shares. Once again DD News is second to Aaj Tak. It has a share of 21 per cent while Aaj Tak's is 29 per cent. Sahara Samay is languishing at the bottom of the barrel with a share of six per cent.