I&B Ministry
FTII impasse continues, 5 students arrested & released on bail for rioting
NEW DELHI: Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) director Prashant Pathrabe has justified his action in calling in the police after he was gheraoed for close to nine hours last night (18 August) by students.
Speaking to Indiantelevision.com, Pathrabe said that the students verbally abused him and even termed him as inefficient for not being able to resolve their problem with regard to the appointment of Bharatiya Janata Party member and TV actor Gajendra Chauhan as FTII chairman.
He said that he had attempted to pacify the students and requested them not to resort such tactics but to no avail. He was confined to one room and was verbally assaulted.
Five students, who were arrested in a post-midnight swoop and sent to judicial custody, were then released on bail this evening (19 August).
The police said the students had been charged with rioting and damaging property amongst other charges.
Pathrabe said there were around 40 students who were protesting against what they alleged was “irrational and unjustified” pro-rata course project assessment of the 2008 batch.
The police crackdown came after the 72-day old agitation in which a section of the students are opposing the appointment of Chauhan.
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.
