I&B Ministry
UR Rao quits as Prasar Bharati chairman
NEW DELHI: UR Rao, chairman of the Prasar Bharati Corporation, has put in his papers, citing personal reasons.
Sources in Prasar Bharati admitted today that Prof Rao, a former head of the country’s premier space research institute, ISRO, has sent in his resignation to the information and broadcasting ministry.
However, there was no official communication from the Prasar Bharati in this regard. Nor from the ministry.
Prof. Rao was chosen as the chairman of the Prasar Bharati board by a selection committee, comprising the vice-president of India, Press Council chairman and a government nominee, after a lot of deliberation.
Prasar Bharati got its second chairman more than a year after its first chairman died a couple of years back.
If the resignation is accepted, then the selection committee, likely to have new members with the new vice-president too having taken over, will have to meet to zero down on another candidate for the chairman’s post of Prasar Bharati. BG Verghese, a veteran journalist and seniormost member of the board, may be made acting chairman once Rao’s resignation is accepted by the government, the Indian Express has reported.
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.
