I&B Ministry
Swaraj may impose CAS through ordinance after all
Broadcasters and sections of the television industry who were just about heaving a sigh of relief that the Cable TV amendment on conditional access, proposed by information and broadcasting minister Sushma Swaraj, would have to wait until the Monsoon session of parliament to get cleared, may have relaxed too soon.
The latest news is that while Swaraj is in Cannes pushing the film Indian industry’s cause at the international film festival there, hectic activity is taking place in the I&B ministry to push it through as an ordinance by next week.
The I&B ministry’s pitch: with an Indo-Pak conflict in the offing, the government needs to get a handle on television channels which had given it a bad name during the Gujarat carnage.
Swaraj had almost single-handedly managed to get the bill listed on the last day’s agenda of the Rajya Sabha last week at the last minute but a lot of behind the scenes manoeuvring by another minister ensured that the CAS amendment could not be taken up for discussion.
Swaraj is expected to return from Cannes by the end of the week.
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.
