I&B Ministry
AIR to host monthly Cultural Music Heritage Shows
NEW DELHI: All India Radio (AIR) will be organising monthly Cultural Music Heritage shows as part of safeguarding the country’s musical heritage featuring prominent artistes.
The opening concert on 28 October will be by renowned santoor exponent Pandit Bhajan Sopori and his son Abhay Rustom Sopori. The concert will be telecast live on DD Bharati at 6.30 pm.
Being organised by AIR’s national channel, the show will showcase the musical brilliance shared between generations of musicians.
The show titled A Musical Legacy intends to highlight the musical skills passed from generation to generation amongst musicians.
The concert to be held once a month will see rendition from talented duos like Padamshree Debu Choudhary and his son Pratik Choudhary, Pandit Manprasad and son Lalit Prasad, L.K.Pandit and Mita Pandit, Pandit Rajendar Prassana and Ritesh Prassana.
The series, which forms a part of Prasar Bharati’s mission of ‘Bahujan Hitaya, Bahujan Sukhaya’ is a platform where the rich legacy of the artists would be showcased.
“Radio has not only conserved the musical legacy but given dimensions to it to make it relevant with changing times,” said AIR DG F. Sheheryar.
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.
