OTT platform, radio auction on govt radar

NEW DELHI: The government will undertake a fresh auction of FM radio stations, roll out an OTT platform and conduct trials of direct-to-mobile television broadcast this year, Union I&B secretary Apurva Chandra said on Thursday.

Addressing the Broadcast Engineering Society Expo, Chandra said the ministry expects to take FM radio to Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities this year, while highlighting that though a large number of FM radio stations exist, their services cover only 60% of India’s geography.

Chandra said Prasar Bharati plans to leverage its archival footage, which it has not been able to monetise, through an OTT platform. “Fresh content, such as the ‘Swaraj’ serial is not available on the internet for want of an OTT platform. We plan to do it in 2023-24,” he said. The I&B secretary added that IIT-Kanpur and Sankhya Labs have installed transmitters along Kartavya Path and adjoining areas to demonstrate how television signals can be directly broadcast to mobile phones. “

Now you can receive television signals directly to your mobile,” he said. He said mobile phone users will have to attach a special dongle to their mobile devices to receive television signals. Chandra said mobile manufacturers will have to be encouraged to install a special chip in the phone devices so that television signals can be received without the dongle. He said the government has made an allocation of Rs 2500 crore over a four-year period for the Broadcasting Infrastructure and Network Development (BIND) Scheme to widen the reach of Prasar Bharati, including in the Left- wing extremism, border and strategic areas.

The scheme aims to boost public service broadcasting in the country and focuses on infrastructure development of Prasar Bharati, including AIR and DD.