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Doordarshan geared up for HDTV coverage of Commonwealth Games
NEW DELHI: Doordarshan has begun a major exercise in educating the multi-system operators and cable operators about high definition television which will be introduced in the country along with the Commonwealth Games in October this year.
Doordarshan director-general Aruna Sharma told indiantelevision.com that she had met representatives of multi-system operators (MSOs) and cable operators in Mumbai and Delhi to answer any queries about HDTV.
This will be the first time in Commonwealth Games history that the event is being broadcast in High Definition digital, also marking a critical milestone for Indian television.
Sharma said that introduction of HDTV will not necessarily mean buying new television sets. The plasma screen TV sets are already geared for HDTV. For the other TV sets, it may be necessary to replace the set top box.
Doordarshan is establishing two HDTV studios in Delhi and Mumbai, and field production and post production facilities in four metros. The HDTV uplink will be set up at Delhi and HDTV terrestrial transmitters will be installed in four metros.
The XIX Commonwealth Games Delhi 2010 will be held from 3 to 14 October. The competition will feature 17 sports, with around 8,500 athletes and officials from 71 Commonwealth Games Federation member countries expected to attend.
Sharma denied that Doordarshan had sought any increase over the budget allocated for the games – Rs 3.66 billion. However, she said this figure is for coverage of the games and does not include expenditure being incurred by Doordarshan as rights holder broadcaster.
Sharma said the pact with Satellite Information Services Live was working according to plan. The agreement with SIS was for a contract price of Rs 2.46 billion.
Under the terms of the agreement, SIS LIVE will provide all the production facilities and personnel to cover 17 different sports across 12 venues in Delhi, as well as the Games’ opening and closing ceremonies.
Sharma said Doordarshan is deputing 50 personnel for covering three events – wrestling (for which a new stadium is being built next to Nehru Stadium), boxing and weight-lifting. Other events will be covered by the SIS teams.
Apart from providing the technical infrastructure to cover the Games, SIS LIVE is providing over 1,000 highly skilled technical and production staff at the 12 venues.
Australia ’s Global Television with its Indian partner Shaf Broadcast are designing, installing and will operate the International Broadcast Centre (IBC) for the Games.
The IBC is the hub for all Commonwealth Games broadcasting activity, handling incoming television pictures and sound from the host broadcaster, distributing that footage to international rights holders and managing rights holders’ outgoing transmissions.
The Delhi Commonwealth Games IBC will house studio and reporting facilities for broadcasters and journalists from around the world. Occupying 8,000 square meters, up to 1,500 broadcast professionals will be based at the IBC.
Sharma said the Broadcast Engineering Consultants India Limited (BESIL) had been contracted as a delivery partner on a turn-key basis for setting up the Main Press Centre at Pragati Maidan. An expenditure of Rs 317.5 million is to be incurred on this work, which includes carrying out media operations at the Main Press Centre and the venue Media Centres for the Games. BESIL is expected to complete its work by 30 September.
Doordarshan earlier this month received clearance of Rs 6.20 billion for digitalisation of 40 transmitters and studios in the Doordarshan network during the 11th Plan. This includes networking of DTT through satellite, augmentation of DMCs by providing equipment and facilities for maintaining the digital infrastructure, providing five sets of digital measurement equipment at zonal offices, providing 60 UPS at High Power Transmitters to ensure uninterrupted power supply, R&D and Training, digitalisation of 31 partially digitalised and 8 analogue studio centers, digitalisation of archiving facilities, and digitalisation of news automation system and e-governance and IT Scheme.
Earlier, Doordarshan had set aside an amount of Rs 12.09 billion of a total approved outlay of Rs. 13.69 billion just for digitization in the 11th Five Year Plan (2007-2012).
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Inshorts Group chief Deepit Purkayastha joins IAB video council for Southeast Asia and India
The co-founder and chief executive of the short-form content platform has been inducted into the IAB SEA+India Video Council, giving India a stronger voice in shaping digital video frameworks
NOIDA: India has long been the world’s most chaotic, multilingual and mobile-first digital market. Now, one of its most prominent short-video executives is getting a seat at the table where the rules are written.
Deepit Purkayastha, co-founder and chief executive of Inshorts Group, has been selected as a member of the IAB SEA+India Video Council for 2026. Run by the Interactive Advertising Bureau, the council brings together senior leaders from Southeast Asia and India to shape standards, best practices and measurement frameworks for the fast-evolving video and digital advertising ecosystem.
The timing is pointed. According to the IAMAI-Kantar Internet in India Report 2025, over 588 million Indians are now consuming short-video content, with growth increasingly driven by rural and non-metro audiences. India’s active internet user base has crossed 950 million, with 57 per cent of users now coming from rural markets. Yet the frameworks that govern how video consumption is measured and monetised were largely designed for single-language, Western markets and have struggled to keep pace with the scale, diversity and complexity of India’s digital landscape.
Purkayastha is no stranger to these debates. He already serves on the AI Council at Marketing and Media Alliance India and as co-chair of the Digital Entertainment Committee at the Internet and Mobile Association of India. His induction into the IAB SEA+India Video Council extends that influence into the global video standards arena.
Inshorts Group sits squarely at the intersection of these forces. Its flagship product, Inshorts, India’s highest-rated short news app, reaches 12 million active users with 60-word news summaries. Its sister platform, Public App, reaches 80 million monthly active users across more than 700 districts and 12 languages, serving communities that most global platforms barely register.
Purkayastha said the opportunity was about building something more representative. “India today sits at the centre of the global video ecosystem, but the frameworks that define how value is created and measured have not always kept pace with the realities of our market,” he said. “Being part of the IAB SEA+India Video Council is an opportunity to contribute to a more representative and future-ready approach, one that accounts for diversity in language, context, and user intent.”
As a council member, Purkayastha will contribute to shaping regional standards across video advertising, measurement and platform governance, with a focus on frameworks that are native to India’s multilingual, mobile-first ecosystem rather than imported from global benchmarks designed elsewhere.
For years, India has been content to play by rules written for other markets. Purkayastha’s induction is a signal that it is done waiting to be consulted and ready to start writing them.
