I&B Ministry
Filmmakers in India and Canada to explore co-productions
NEW DELHI: Filmmakers in India and Canada are expected to benefit in pooling their creative, artistic, technical, financial and marketing resources for the co-production in the years to come.
This follows the signing of an India and Canada Audio-Visual Co-Production Agreement that will enable Indian and Canadian film producers to utilise a platform for collaboration on various facets of film making.
The agreement is expected to lead to the transparent funding of Film Production and will boost export of Indian Films into the Canadian Market.
The agreement is expected to deepen the engagement between the critical sectors of the film industries of both countries there by providing a new chapter of collaboration. The agreement was signed by Information and Broadcasting Ministry Secretary Bimal Julka and Canadian High Commissioner to India Stewart Beck.
The agreement will also lead to exchange of art and culture among the two countries and create goodwill and better understanding among the people of both the countries which will boost cultural ties between the two countries.
The agreement will provide an opportunity to create and showcase India’s ‘Soft Power’ and lead to employment generation among artistic, technical and non-technical human resources engaged in the film production including post-production and its marketing.
Since the agreement is expected to boost the utilisation of Indian locales for shooting, it will increase the visibility/prospects of India as a preferred film shooting destination across the globe and will lead to the inflow of Foreign Exchange into the country.
In the past, similar agreements have been signed with Italy and the United Kingdom in 2005, Germany and Brazil in 2007, France in 2010, New Zealand in 2011, and Poland and Spain in 2012.
The co-production agreements signed so far seek to achieve economic, cultural and diplomatic goals. For filmmakers, the key attraction of a treaty co-production is that it qualifies as a national production in each of the partner nations and can access benefits that are available to the local film and television industry in each country. Benefits accruing from such agreements include government financial assistance, tax concessions and inclusion in domestic television broadcast quotas.
India’s co-production agreements are unique for international producers as the country offers technically qualified film crew at reasonable rates, a large pool of talented actors and the multitude of shooting locations. The other benefits are that the co production is treated at par as a national film and is eligible for the National Film Awards and the Indian Panorama section of International Film Festival of India. Such films also get the opportunity to be released through the Indian distribution network, and hence co production opens up the Indian consumer market to the foreign producer.
I&B Ministry
Prasar Bharati opens AIR to private content under new policy
NIPP introduces revenue share, sponsored and gratis models
MUMBAI: Radio may be the oldest voice in the room, but it’s learning some very modern tricks. In a bid to stay tuned to changing listener habits, Prasar Bharati has opened the doors of All India Radio to private players under a newly rolled-out content framework. The initiative, titled Notice Inviting Programme Proposals (NIPP), marks a significant shift in how the public broadcaster approaches programming moving from a largely in-house model to a more collaborative, market-aligned ecosystem. Issued by Akashvani’s Directorate General in April 2026, the policy invites private producers, content owners and aggregators to pitch programmes across formats, from radio dramas and documentaries to quiz shows, storytelling and music-led content.
At the heart of the framework lies a three-pronged participation model designed to balance creative freedom with commercial viability. The most prominent route is revenue sharing, where advertising and sponsorship income generated by a programme is split between the producer and the broadcaster. The structure tilts in favour of creators offering a 70:30 split when producers bring in advertising, and 65:35 when monetisation is handled by Prasar Bharati.
Alongside this sits the sponsored model, where producers fully fund and monetise their content, subject to compliance with advertising norms and the AIR Broadcast Code. For those less commercially inclined, a gratis route allows content to be submitted free of cost, with Prasar Bharati retaining all monetisation rights effectively turning the platform into a national distribution channel for diverse voices.
The move comes as legacy media grapples with intensifying competition from private FM networks, streaming platforms and digital audio ecosystems. By repositioning AIR as both a public service broadcaster and a content marketplace, Prasar Bharati appears to be recalibrating its role in a rapidly evolving media landscape.
Importantly, the framework does not dilute editorial control. All submissions must adhere to the AIR Broadcast Code, and proposals are evaluated through a layered process that weighs storytelling quality, production capability, audience appeal and revenue potential. Only proposals crossing a defined threshold move forward, signalling that while access has widened, the bar remains firmly in place.
Operational discipline is another cornerstone of the policy. Producers are required to maintain broadcast-ready content, deliver episode banks in advance and navigate a structured approval process. Crucially, all production costs are borne by the content provider, reinforcing Prasar Bharati’s positioning as a distribution and oversight platform rather than a commissioning entity.
What elevates the initiative further is its scale. The framework spans multiple clusters and stations across India, covering both metro and regional markets, with specific language mandates and submission channels. This not only expands the content pipeline but also deepens linguistic and cultural representation, an area where AIR has historically held an advantage.
In effect, NIPP signals a quiet but meaningful transformation. AIR is no longer just broadcasting to the nation, it is inviting the nation to broadcast with it, blending legacy reach with contemporary content economics in a bid to stay relevant in an increasingly fragmented audio universe.
