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To charge Rs 1 lakh for every five-minute feed

It's going to be a field day for the 40-odd news channels in the country as they gear up to cover the UPA Government's trust vote on July 22.
From special polls to covering the behind the scenes story, the news channels are terming it as the ‘biggest drama that will get unfolded on television live'.

Amidst this, Lok Sabha TV, the dedicated satellite channel for covering the proceedings of Lok Sabha live, has already despatched letters to all major news channels along with its rate-card for using its signals.

News channels that use more than five-minutes of its feed of the Parliament's proceedings (on July 21, 22) will have to fork out Rs 100,000 for the event.

"We have had the practice of billing the news channels for using our special coverage like General Budget, Rail Budget and No-Confidence voting. And these billings are charged on per-event basis," Sunit Tondon, the newly appointed CEO, Lok Sabha TV, told Business Standard.

Lok Sabha TV is the only authorised television channel that covers all the proceedings in the Lower House of Parliament.

Its signals are taken by the various news channels, specially for events like the Budget and special sittings of Parliament.

Media experts are expecting high ratings on July 22, specially in the evenings when the the voting is scheduled to take place.

"It would be interesting to compare the ratings at the time of voting with some of the popular shows on television," a media expert said.

In order to move away from its dependence on the signals of Lok Sabha TV, the news channels have lined up their owns shows and surveys.

AC Nielsen has done a survey for Star News across 19-cities to gauge the mood of the people before the crucial trust vote. "We are calling it Desh ka Vishwas Mat where people will give their verdict much before July 22. We will of course keep tracking the stories behind the number-game in the trust vote backed by graphics," Shazi Zaman, Editor, MCCS—the company that broadcasts STAR News, STAR Majha and STAR Ananda.

The Lok Sabha secretariat too has made special arrangements for coverage of parliamentary proceedings.

Hundreds of media passes have been given out and giant TV screens will be set up in two conference rooms within the Lok Sabha premises and at a place where the TV crews set up their cameras, said Lok Sabha Secretary General P D T Achary.