I&B Ministry
Most film-friendly state to get Rs 1-cr cash award
NEW DELHI: The most film-friendly state in India will henceforth receive a cash award of Rs 10 million (Rs 1 crore) in addition to Rajat Kamal and certificate.
This was announced by information and broadcasting minister M Venkaiah Naidu at the opening of the 28th State Information Ministers Conference (SIMCON) on Saturday.
The award was instituted in the National Film Awards given away on 3 May this year, and the first award had gone to Gujarat. But, there was no cash component involved.
The minister said this had been done to encourage the ease of film shooting. Naidu suggested that the prize money may be used by the winning state towards film facilitation. Meanwhile, the minister of state for information and broadcasting Rajyavardhan Rathore said a website was soon being set up for film facilitation and permissions.
Rathore urged the states to set up film facilitation units to ease out film shooting permissions as well as ensure seamless movement of their equipment.
The ministry was in the process of setting up a central portal for all such related permissions and welcomed states to also collaborate in this platform as a part of ease of doing business initiative, he added.
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.
