I&B Ministry
MIB mulls national b’cast policy to ease stakeholders’ woes
NEW DELHI: India’s Ministry of Information and Broadcasting is exploring formulating a national broadcast policy or NBP with an aim to ease lengthy and time consuming government processes that media and entertainment industry players have to go through while conducting their businesses.
According to MIB secretary Amit Khare, his ministry is also formulating the internal FDI policy to align the overall framework with that of the Commerce Ministry. The government had liberalised investment norms for many sectors, including media and entertainment, in 2016, and later dismantled Foreign Investment Promotion Board too making sectoral nodal ministries responsible for greenlighting FDI proposals.
“The media and entertainment sector should grow in a way that has less hurdle and more motivation,” Khare said here yesterday while addressing the concluding day audience at the CII Big Picture Summit 2018.
Expanding on the NBP, Khare said government was exploring ways to ease processes, including a rethink on existing regulations for India’s M&E sector, which, not only has clocked impressive growth, but is also a big generator of employment for people. A new DTH policy, which is in the offing, is an indicator of the government's thought process.
Admitting that regulation has failed to keep pace with changing technologies, the senior government official said, “Regulating everything is not desirable and even if desirable, it may not always be feasible.”
However, he did not elaborate on the government’s thought process on content regulation for the digital space that’s fast becoming home to bold themes and bolder content if compared to traditional media of print and television.
Pointing out that the government faced challenges while formulating policies or reviewing existing ones, Khare gave the example of expanding outlets for distribution of content that now, according to him, can be created practically by anyone with newer digital platforms offering creators enough number of outlets to showcase such creations.
“In such a scenario, policy reforms [become] a little difficult,” Khare said, adding that the present government, however, was keen to review irksome government processes and clearances without being the “monitor” to mind a “grown-up” industry like media.
Dwelling further on technology and the transformation it was bringing about in society, in general, Khare said MIB was in talks with regulator TRAI and BECIL to hold workshops to explore actively how broadband services could be delivered via existing cable TV networks to approximately 40 million households that presently don’t have internet facilities.
Broadcast Engineering Consultants India Limited or BECIL, a government organisation under the ambit of MIB, provides project consultancy services and turnkey solutions encompassing the entire gamut of radio and television broadcast engineering.
Later speaking to the media on the sidelines of the event, Khare said consultations will start with industry stakeholders on the formulation of NBP, but refused to give a time frame of it being legislated into some form of a policy document or guidelines.
Info Tech Minister advocates robust digital measurement norms
Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and WhatsApp have changed the manner in which users consume content and communicate with each other, but the social media platforms need to be mindful of "certain dos and don'ts" and guard against any misuse of their platforms, Information and Technology Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said on Friday.
Speaking at the CII Big Picture Summit, Prasad said that social media platforms' large focus on India underscored the sheer size and opportunities presented by the market here.
"Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and WhatsApp are coming to India not only because they are giving some service. India offers a robust market, by its sheer size. I always say, come do business, but remember certain dos and don'ts…you must follow," Prasad said.
The minister said that social media firms should also guard against any potential misuse of their platforms. In particular, these "public platforms" must not be misused by those with wrong intentions for the purpose of exploitation and denigration of others, he said.
Outlining India's rising digital clout on the back of its large smartphone user base, strong IT outsourcing industry, electronic manufacturing capabilities and biometric programme Aadhaar, the minister asserted that the country will never barter its digital sovereignty and is, in fact, bringing a strong data protection law to safeguard its digital information.
The right of accessing the internet is "not negotiable" and if the internet is designed for common good, it should be safe and secure, he added.
He also called for a robust mechanism for measuring the ratings of digital platforms.
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.
