S – Strength
More than 1000 transmitters covering 90% of population across 70 million homes against only 30 million homes by C & S. More than 20,000 employees.
W – Weakness
Rigid pricing strategy. Low credibility with certain sections of society. Quality of programs is not as good as compared to C & S network
O – Opportunities
Infrastructure can be leased out to cable and satellite channel. Digital terrestrial transmission. Regional focused channels. Allotment of time, slots to other broadcasters.
T – Threats
Desertion of advertisers and producers may result in loss of revenues. Due to quality of program the reach of C & S network is continuously expanding. As the C & S network need the trained staff, some employees of DD may switchover and take new jobs. Best of the market-technology is being used by the private channels.
It is suggested that the DD should adopt a middle path. It should have a mix of both the options. It should economise on its operational aspects and ensure more productivity in term of revenue generation and optimisation of use of its infrastructure. Wherever, the capacities are underutilised, these may be leased out to the private operations. At the same time quality and viewership of programmes should be improved. Bureaucracy may reduce new strategic initiatives or make the organisation less transparent. Complete privatisation can fetch a good sum and may solve many of the managerial and operational problems. However, complete public monopoly is not advisable because that denies the government to fully exploit the avenue for social and public use. The government will also lose out as it will not be able to take advantage of rising potential of the market.