I&B Ministry
Prasar Bharati looks at digitizing archives; to seek Rs 250 crore from govt
MUMBAI: Pubcaster Prasar Bharati is taking another stab at digitizing and monetising the huge archival content catalogue that is lying in the shelves of All India Radio and Doordarshan. And it is all set to make a formal request to the ministry of broadcasting and broadcasting (MIB) for nearly Rs 250 crore to help it achieve what it intends to do. It says included in this archive are prominent speeches of national leaders, popular programmes and music.
Prasar Bharati officials recently made a presentation to the MIB enumerating why it needs to do this. Sources say both Doordarshan and All India Radio have millions of hours of both audio and video content. In fact, All India Radio had digitized some of its content around a decade ago and even monetized some of it by selling CDs. The UK pubcaster BBC is amongst the world’s largest exporters of TV content with worldwide sales of around 400 million Euros. If Prasar Bharati manages even 10 per cent of that, it will more than recover its digitization costs.
The problem, however, is that its archive has not been maintained in the best manner and is on beta and VHS tapes, many of which could be damaged or unrecoverable. And some of it could be have been stolen or lost.
It is also looking at drafting a syndication policy to sell its content worldwide to other media outlets or online directly to consumers.
Says a media observer: “Hopefully, it takes up the task seriously this time and the MIB helps it see it through to conclusion. DD is in danger of becoming a dinosaur; digitisation will allow it to bring new legs to old content which a generation has not seen. It could be put out online or on mobile for consumption apart from finding customers for its clips worldwide.”
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.
