Swaraj has three choices in front of her: get the president to promulgate an ordinance, wait until the next session of parliament to table it in the upper house, or just trash her proposal right away. If she opts for the first, the chances are that the opposition may turn rabid and bite the ruling party politicians in the seat of their pants. Some netas have already appealed to the president not to fall prey to Swaraj's and the BJP's alleged machinationsand promulgate an ordinance, calling the move undemocratic.

Swaraj will have to contend with Gill who's threatening to go to court. But it's unlikely that he will act on his threat, unless he gets a solid backing from the opposition, or suffers from a sudden bout of bravado.

Option number two is wait until the next session of parliament that is if this government survives until then. The going will not be easy then. Not that it has been easy so far. It's likely that the uproar in the upper house will din out Swaraj's new/old Prasar Bharati amendments. It will require a miracle of sorts to make the opposition parties change their stance to one in favour of Swaraj.

Choice number three is trash Swaraj's version of the Prasar Bharati. Again very unlikely as it is part of the BJP's manifesto and a move on which the entire party has backed Swaraj totally. Garbaging the Prasar Bharati will mean a total loss of face for the lady and her party. Hence this option should be trashed.

Amongst all the choices,number one seems the most feasible. The BJP has been charging ahead with what it wants to do, heedless of any threats to destabilise it by allies or enemies. Swaraj and the BJP should go ahead and seek a promulgation of an ordinance. Reason: it is the only way it can get its way and it may not get a second chance.

It's not as if the BJP avatar of the Prasar Bharati Act is the best option. The 22-member parliamentary committee should have no authority to direct editorial policy on the Prasar Bharati, be it All India Radio (AIR) or Doordarshan (DD). The Prasar Bharati should be allowed to run independently as a commercial broadcaster with a few channels -- covering education and agriculture -- set aside for public service broadcasting. The government can partly fund these services; the rest can be got from private companies. (If Discovery, which is more along the lines of educational TV channel, can attract sponsors why can't a DD or AIR service which will have agriculture and education as its content doso?)

Its chief executive should be answerable to the parliamentary committee only for financial results and not editorial policy. If the authorities give the right chief executive freedom, DD and AIR with their wide reach will definitely beat the competition from private satellite channels. Or even terrestrial networks whenever they are allowed.

Star TV-Zee TV merger issue rages on

There is more gossip on the hyped-up Star TV-Zee TV merger, despite hot denials from both Subhash Chandra and Star TV senior management. An industry source believes that it is definitely on but it will take some time to come to fruition. Amongst the several structures being speculated about is one which has R Basu as CEO of a new holding company jointly owned by Star and Zee TV with Zee Network chief Vijay Jindal as his COO.

While air-time marketing for the entire bouquet of Star and the Zee Network channels will be Zee's responsibility, enhancing distribution of the two networks digitally will be Star TV's headache.Apparently this is achievable geographically at least because both networks have their distribution headquarters in New Delhi while air-time sales are in Mumbai. Another version has it that R Basu will be transferred internationally or totally to DTH by Murdoch as neither Jindal nor Basu will work below each other in an organisation.

Lynn de Souza on a study tour

Media veteran Lynn de Souza, who was heading the Amiratti Puris Lintas-promoted Initiative Media, has taken a break from her baby. The lady is winging it overseas for a five-month study course. While the buzz is that she will never return to APL thanks to her falling out with chief Prem Mehta, agency sources say she will come back to a senior management title (read: client servicing) in APL. Andre Purshotam and Ashish Bhasin, two APL media wunderkinders, meanwhile, are managing Initiative Media.

Marketing ideas via the Net

Want to exchange ideas on marketing? Log on to http://www.marketfiles.com. Here you will find actualcorporate marketing plans, complete with strategies, exectuing information and visuals. The site also has discussion platforms for interaction between professionals and/or academics and students, along with International Marketing Files (IMF) News, news letters and company updates. Developed by Amazia jointly with the New York-based International Advertising Association and the US-headquartered AVC marketing, the site at present has three interactive modules for discussion -- one for academics, one for students and one for business and marketing professionals. After completing a free registration, users will be able to post comments, questions or start discussions in their own module on a variety of categories and subject matter. Postings, monitored by administrators of the site, appear instantly. Academics have the option of starting discussions in their own module and in the students' module as well. The three partners hope that IMF will end up being the ultimate interactive business and marketing resourceapart from being an educational tool.

The writer can be reached at wanvari@giasbm01.vsnl.net.in or television@hotmail.com