Prasar Bharati Office. file | Photo credit: VV Krishnan
The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs on Wednesday approved the scheme “Broadcasting Infrastructure and Network Development (BIND)” with an outlay of ₹2,539.61 crore till 2025-26, paving the way for upgradation and expansion of public service broadcasting infrastructure across the country. Suffered ,
As a result, AIR’s FM is expected to cover more than 80% of the country’s population, while eight lakh Doordarshan Free Dish DTH set-top boxes will be distributed to people living in remote, tribal and border areas, aspirational districts. and Left Wing Extremism affected areas.
“Prasar Bharati, as the public broadcaster of the country, through Doordarshan and All India Radio is the most important means of information, education, entertainment and engagement for the people, especially in the remote areas of the country… The BIND scheme will enable the Govt. The public broadcaster will undertake a major upgrade of its facilities with better infrastructure which will widen its reach and provide high quality content to the viewers, it said in a statement.
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A key priority area of the plan is to develop high quality content for both domestic and international viewers and ensure availability of diverse content to viewers by upgrading the capacity of DTH platforms to accommodate more channels. “Purchase of OB” [outside broadcasting] Digital upgradation of WAN and DD and AIR studios to make them HD-ready will also be done as part of the project.
Currently, Doordarshan operates 36 TV channels, including 28 regional channels, and All India Radio operates over 500 broadcasting stations. “The scheme will increase the coverage of AIR FM transmitters in the country to 66% by geographical area and 80% by population, which are 59% and 68% respectively,” the government said.
The initiative is also anticipated to generate indirect employment through manufacturing and services related to the supply and installation of broadcast equipment. “Content creation and content innovation for AIR and DD has potential for indirect employment of individuals with diverse experience from different media sectors,” it said, adding that the expansion of DD Free Dish’s reach was also expected to generate employment in the manufacturing sector. . Dth box.