Question mark hangs over Sangat TV future

Lonson, UK: The future of Sikh religious channel, Sangat TV is looking bleak after BSkyB issued the channel with a termination notice for unpaid EPG fees.

Looking at the documents BizAsia.co.uk has in its possession, Regis 1 Ltd – the company name of Sangat TV – has received a notice to pay over seven months of EPG costs (totaling to around £30,000) by Monday 16th April. If it fails to do so, the channel will be taken off its Sky EPG slot (channel 847).

Like its rival, Sikh Channel, Sangat TV’s survival is mainly down to donations by viewers and commercial revenue.

The channel’s expenditure per month (including satellite and Sky EPG costs) mounts up to £45,000. Currently, the channel receives around £11,000 per month worth of donations from viewers. It also makes a similar amount of commercial revenue. The deficit is met by ad hoc individual/trustees/creditors and institutional (Gurdwara) donations.

In an email leaked to BizAsia.co.uk, the channel plans to put the following plan of action forward to avoid further financial difficulties.

1. Majority of our Sangat has forsaken the concept of Daswandh and the importance of Panthic projects – we all must work hard to revive this.
2. We [Sangat TV] all must work hard to bring in enough SO/DD (Regular monthly donations) to plug the monthly funding gap. I suggest that each Trustee should take responsibility to collect at least £2k pcm in addition to their own contributions.
3. All Trustees must contribute a higher amount each as one off payment towards clearing the backlog of Creditor payments i.e Arqiva and BSkyB.
4. There is a huge untapped potential for increasing the advertising revenue many folds. All Trustees should bring in advertising revenue of £2k pcm.
5. Sangat should be made aware of all facts and figures and a regular Appeal to Sangat for donating Daswandh should be made in very clear terms

Sangat TV will be holding a trustees meeting at the end of this month to discuss further to better its financial position. Sangat TV became a household name last year when the channel went on the streets of Birmingham to cover the August riots.

BizAsia.co.uk contacted Sangat TV about its current position but was awaiting a response at the time of filing this article.

Author: Raj Baddhan
Source: BizAsia.co.uk