I&B Ministry
Govt grants Rs 2,500 cr for Prasar Bharati’s infrastructure improvement
Mumbai: The cabinet committee on economic affairs has approved the ministry of information and broadcasting’s proposal for the broadcasting infrastructure and network development (BIND) central sector project, providing Rs 2,539.61 crore for Prasar Bharati’s infrastructure development, including All India Radio and Doordarshan (DD).
“The BIND scheme is the vehicle for providing financial support to Prasar Bharati for expenses related to the expansion and upgradation of its broadcasting infrastructure, content development, and civil work related to the organisation,” the I&B ministry said in a statement.
The BIND scheme will allow the public broadcaster to upgrade its facilities with better infrastructure, expand its reach, including in LWE, border, and strategic areas, and provide high-quality content to viewers.
Another major priority area of the scheme is the creation of high-quality content for both domestic and international audiences, as well as ensuring the availability of diverse content to viewers through the expansion of the DTH platform’s capacity to accommodate more channels.
The project will also include the purchase of OB vans and the digital upgrade of DD and AIR Studios to make them HD-ready.
Doordarshan currently operates 36 TV channels, including 28 regional channels, and AIR operates over 500 broadcasting centres. The scheme will expand the country’s coverage of AIR FM transmitters to 66 per cent by geographical area and 80 per cent by population, up from 59 per cent and 68 per cent, respectively.
The scheme also includes the free distribution of over eight lakh DD Free Dish STBs to residents of remote, tribal, low-income, and border areas.
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.
