Live gurbani on your TV screens...in some months

Live gurbani, straight from the Golden Temple? Well, not yet! Followers of the Sikhism faith, keen to see the rendition of the sacred verses from the Guru Granth, their holy verse, on their television screens, will have to wait for some more months.

Speaking exclusively to domain-B, Mr. Yogesh Shah, director ETC Networks Ltd, which won the mandate from the authorities at the Golden Temple for a live telecast of the gurbani, said "We are in the process of putting in place a digital uplink station in the premises of the Golden Temple, and this is likely to be completed in the next three to four months." However till then viewers can get get the recorded version of gurbani from the Golden Temple on two channels of the company, ETC as well as ETC Punjabi.

ETC Punjabi, the Punjabi entertainment channel owned by ETC Networks Ltd., recently bagged the exclusive rights for beaming the gurbani kirtan live from the Golden Temple, for a period of eleven years. This mandate was won by it in the face of stiff competition from rival channels like Alpha Punjabi, Tara Punjabi and Lashkara. An agreement to this effect was signed about three weeks back between Mr. Jagjit Singh Kohli, director ETC Networks Ltd. and Bibi Jagir Kaur, president Shiromani Gurudwara Prabandhak Committee, the controlling authority of the Golden Temple.

In lieu of these rights, ETC will pay a one time charge of Rs 2.01 crore. Further, from April 2001 it will pay an annual sum of Rs 51 lakh coupled with 10 per cent of its gross advertisement revenue collected just before and after (depending on normal advertisement norms) the gurbani program. All payments will be made into the "education fund " of the SGPC.

Live gurbani from Golden Temple, Amritsar, was being beamed live till January 2000 by North India Television Company Pvt. Ltd. under a contract with the SGPC. However beaming stopped after January 2000 due to some financial and technical problems. The rights were then passed on to ETC Networks Ltd. by the company. However ETC later approached SGPC to assign them the official rights directly on a long term basis. In the bidding process that followed, representatives of participating companies were called individually and interviewed by SGPC officials.

Commenting on the development Mr. Jagjit Singh Kohli, promoter director of ETC Networks Ltd. said, "The channel is dedicated towards promotion of cultural, religious and ethnic beliefs. Besides instilling social values, ETC Networks is also committed to society for it’s educational upgradation. This association with SGPC is a step in that direction."