I&B Ministry
Ambani, Jain and Purie to meet Reddy
NEW DELHI: Is it action time in the media? If the meetings that have been lined up for information and broadcasting minister Jaipal Reddy today are any indication, then it seems things are warming up in the media cup.
From an hour from now, Reddy is meeting a delegation of media barons, including Bennett, Coleman & Co. MD Vineet Jain and The India Today Group’s chief editor and promoter Aroon Purie.
Later in the evening, around 5.30 pm, Reddy is scheduled to meet Reliance group chairman Mukesh Ambani.
Though ministry officials are tight-lipped about these two particular meetings, terming them as “courtesy calls”, it is expected that Jain, Purie and others would be discussing the issue of licence fee for private radio FM players with Reddy.
The I&B ministry has demanded payment of the annual licence fee from the private FM radio operators, which became payable on 30 April. The deadline has been now extended.
With a Reliance company, Reliance Infocomm, becoming aggressive on the broadband sector, which would also involve the I&B ministry, apart from the department of telecommunications, it would be interesting what the Ambani scion has to discuss with Reddy.
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.
