Why should viewers pay for running Doordarshan

Doordarshan has to survive, so we the viewer have to pay. The Government is considering imposing a recurring annual 'licence fee' for each colour television set. The levy could be between five to 10 per cent ~ Rs 500 for each colour television set and Rs 200 for a black and white television sets.Additionally, private channels could also be asked to pay five per cent of their gross revenue to Prasar Bharati as a public broadcast fee.

This new tax will save Doordarshan, as annual cost of running DD is 3000 crore while prasar bharti's earning is only 1600 crore so to make up loss of 1400 crore rupees, Govt will dig in our pocket.

The point to worry is not whether Govt should save ill DD but why should vieewrs pay for maintaining DD. There is no doubt that in a democratic country like India, we need public service media which has access to even distance villages and that is no other than Doordarshan which has all this. There should not be any doubt on it that better information provide better chances for development so we want to develop shouldn't we try to make all information resources/ services cheaper.

Then why is this tax ?

Here are some examples of how public broadcasters are funded across the world:

In UK, BBC is funded by license fee and by the sale of its materials and services. BBC does not, in the UK, depend on advertising, sponsorship or subscription revenues

In Japan and Sweden, Public Broadcasters rely almost entirely on licence fee.

Spain's TVE and New Zealand's NZTV are, on the other hand, completely financed by advertising revenue.

PSBs in France, Germany, Italy and Ireland combine the licence fee revenue with advertising, while Australia's ABC is entirely funded by Government grants.

Canada's CBC combines Governments grants with advertising revenue.