The Indian government is considering to roll out a fresh auction of FM radio stations, along with launching an over-the-top (OTT) platform to increase its footprint across the country.
This comes even after the exposure of FM radio stations is almost 60% in the country.
The Secretary of the government agency Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Apurva Chandra informed that the Centre is not only planning to hold a fresh auction of FM radio stations and roll out of an OTT platform but will also conduct trials of direct-to-mobile television broadcast in 2023.
While addressing and inaugurating the Broadcast Engineering Society Expo in Delhi last week, the MIB Secretary said, “We are also working towards an auction of FM radio stations this year. We hope to take FM radio to Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities this year.”
The government allocated a sum of Rs 2,500 crore over a period of four years for the Broadcasting Infrastructure and Network Development (BIND) Scheme for broadening the outreach of the state-owned public broadcaster Prasar Bharati.
The BIND scheme aims to boost the public sector broadcasting in India and pivots on the infrastructure development of Prasar Bharati, including the All India Radio as well as the television channel Doordarshan.
“We are now planning to have an OTT platform for Prasar Bharti content. Fresh content, such as the ’Swaraj’ serial is not available on the internet for want of an OTT platform. We plan to do that in 2023-24,” said Chandra, adding that the broadcaster has loads of archival footage that it has not been able to monetise yet.
The revered institute Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur (IIT Kanpur) and the wireless communication solutions company Sankhya Labs have put in transmitters along Kartavya Path and its adjoining areas for demonstrating the way TV signals can directly broadcast to mobile phones.
“Now you can receive television signals directly to your mobile. This is a very interesting technology, which has the potential to increase the reach of television media,” said Chandra.
