I&B Ministry
AIR ad rates to be revised
The private FM players may be getting all the publicity at the moment but good old All India Radio is not going to be left behind.
At today’s meeting of the board of Pubcaster Prasar Bharati, which manages both AIR and national broadcaster Doordarshan, it was decided that AIR’s ad rates were to be revised.
The decision follows a good performance last year by AIR. In a year that has been acknowledged as a bad year for business, AIR raked in revenues of Rs 970 million, the highest in the last 10 years, deputy director general, AIR, MS Rukmini has been quoted as saying.
And Rukmini shows no worries that there will be any drop in revenues what with the plethora new FM channels coming up, because of one fundamental reason. These channels are essentially city-centric, while AIR is still an effective media in the rural sector. Towards this end AIR has been effecting drastic changes in its programmes.
This is certainly an area where private operators are unlikely to take an active interest and so if managed well, there is no reason why AIR shouldn’t continue to do well.
I&B Ministry
Prasar Bharati sets EPG standards for DD Free Dish platform
New specs define 7-day guide, LCN mapping, and device compatibility.
MUMBAI: Your TV guide just got a backstage pass structured, scheduled, and far more in sync. Prasar Bharati has released detailed technical specifications for Electronic Programme Guide (EPG) services on DD Free Dish, laying down a standardised framework for how channels and programme information are organised and delivered. At the core of the update is a defined EPG data structure, covering genre-based categorisation, scheduling formats, and Logical Channel Numbering (LCN). The aim is simple: make navigation less guesswork and more guided experience across the platform’s over 40 million households.
The specifications also introduce a seven-day programme guide window for each channel, alongside clear rules for channel grouping and LCN mapping effectively deciding not just what you watch, but how easily you find it.
On the technical front, the document outlines requirements for Program Specific Information (PSI) and Service Information (SI), including descriptor usage across tables such as PAT, BAT and NIT. It further details service lists and network linkage parameters, giving OEMs and developers a clearer blueprint for integration.
Importantly, the framework is designed to work seamlessly with television sets equipped with in-built satellite tuners, enabling users to access DD Free Dish directly without additional hardware, an incremental but meaningful step towards simplifying access.
The platform will continue to operate on GSAT-15 transponders, using MPEG-4 compression and DVB-S2 transmission standards, ensuring continuity even as the interface evolves.
While largely technical, the move signals a broader push towards standardisation and user-friendly discovery in India’s free-to-air ecosystem because sometimes, the real upgrade isn’t what’s on screen, but how easily you get there.
