I&B Ministry
Prasar advisor Sunil Arora new IICA DG & CEO
NEW DELHI: Information & broadcasting ministry’s former secretary Sunil Arora has reportedly been appointed as the director-general and CEO of the Indian Institute of Corporate Affairs (IICA), the corporate affairs ministry’s think tank. The IAS officer of the 1980 batch of Rajasthan cadre, Arora retired as the secretary earlier this year, and was serving as an advisor at Prasar Bharati.
IICA generally focuses on matters concerning functioning of corporates and strives towards capacity building with various stakeholders including professionals and regulators.
The government’s Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) approved the appointment of Arora as the IICA CEO and D-G via an order issued by the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) said. He has been appointed in the top scale of Rs 80,000=00 for a period of five years or till attaining the age of 65 years or until further orders, whichever is the earliest, it added.
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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.
