I&B Ministry
Budget 2020: I&B Ministry allocation raised by over Rs 310 crore this fiscal
MUMBAI: Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman in her second budget announced Rs 4375.21 crore for the Ministry Of Information And Broadcasting (MIB) for the financial year 2020-21, Press Trust of India report said. The revised budget estimate for the last fiscal was Rs 4064.76 crore.
The finance minister has increased the funds to MIB by Rs 310 crore over the previous fiscal year. The allocation for Prasar Bharati has remained at Rs 2889.36 crore, same as the revised estimate of last financial year.
The allocation, in the budget, for broadcasting under the social services has been upped to Rs 3218.56 crore from Rs 3067.26 crore in FY20. Meanwhile, a total of Rs 967.29 crore is allocated for information and publicity.
The minister raised the allocation for the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII), Pune to Rs 49.4 crore from Rs 30.87 crore in 2019-20, and has doubled the Indian Institute of Mass Communication (IIMC) funds to Rs 61.30 crore in FY21 from Rs 25.69 crore in the last fiscal.
Hailing the budget 2020 as most pragmatic, union information and broadcasting minister Prakash Javadekar said that India has not only managed a good growth rate but is also marching towards a better rate, adding that the budget will usher in all-round development.
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.
