Prasar Bharati Plans To Launch OTT Platform With ₹2,500 Crore Budget

Last updated on February 14th, 2023 at 10:36 am

Prasar Bharati had signed a MoU with YuppTV last year to expand DD India coverage in various countries. Govt has approved a budget ₹2,500 cr to upgrade AIR & DD.

A senior official revealed on Friday that Prasar Bharati is “considering” the prospect of developing an OTT platform months after agreeing to partner with YuppTV to increase the worldwide reach of Doordarshan’s DD India channel.

In order to make DD India available in a number of nations outside of Europe and the Middle East, including the US, UK, Singapore, Australia, and New Zealand, Prasar Bharati negotiated an agreement with OTT platform YuppTV in March of last year.

Prasar Bharati is prepared to meet the goals after the Union Cabinet approved a plan earlier this week to modernize, enhance, and expand All India Radio (AIR) and Doordarshan (DD) for more than Rs 2,500 crore.

The installation of the most modern broadcasting and studio equipment at Prasar Bharati facilities will provide DD and AIR stations a considerable facelift with the execution of the Broadcast Infrastructure Network Development (BIND) project, the official said.

According to the official, the capacity of DD Free Dish would be extended from the current 116 channels to roughly 250 channels in order to give viewers a wide and varied bouquet of channels at no cost.

The official continued, “Other projects to be carried out under the scheme include upgrading earth stations at DDK Vijayawada and Leh to 24 hours channel, rolling out of fly away units for covering the distinguished national ceremony/events and VVIP coverages, and incorporation of DD Free Dish disaster recovery facility for securing uninterrupted DTH service in the event of disaster or natural calamity.”

While 31 regional news units across the DD network would be refurbished and modernized with the newest equipment for effective news gathering, 28 regional Doordarshan channels will be converted into high-definition (HD) programme production competent Kendras, the official added.

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In order to uplink HDTV channels, projects will also be initiated for the upgrade and restoration of earth stations at DDK Guwahati, Shillong, Aizawl, Itanagar, Agartala, Kohima, Imphal, Gangtok, and Port Blair.

According to the official, the plan comprises AIR and Doordarshan priority projects that are to be finished quickly, with an emphasis on growing and fortifying the FM radio network and mobile TV production facilities totaling Rs 950 crore.