DD Sports transforms as CYG channel

Ashish Khurana - Televisionpoint.com | Pune
National broadcaster Doordarshan has planned 168 hours of coverage for the seven days of the Commonwealth Youth Games (CYG), virtually converting its DD Sports channel into a CYG channel.

Speaking to Televisionpoint.com, Ashok Jailkhani, deputy director-general, Doordarshan and project director, CYG, says, "We have stationed a huge unit of the Indian Broadcasting Company at the venue. The staff has been drawn from across the country for production, technical and logistics support. We have been preparing for this event for one year."

As many as 628 personnel, including technical, non-technical and support staff, have been deputed at the CYG venue. Twelve outdoor broadcast (OB) vans and 90 cameras have been deployed while 310 production staff, including eight anchors and 40 commentators, are working in three shifts round-the-clock.

The CYG coverage is being relayed to 143 nations, including Europe, Australia and New Zealand, says E. S. Isaac, sports director, Doordarshan. For the first time, Doordarshan is maintaining an archive of all the footage being recorded here.

"The participating countries may demand some footage at some time and we will sell it to them. Twenty cameras were mounted at the main stadium during the five-hour opening ceremony," said Jailkhani.

"It was a challenging job with action on the field and also in the air. There were cameramen at every corner of the ground." added Jailkhani.