Mobile TV to become revenue earner for Prasar Bharati

Strapped for funds, public broadcaster Prasar Bharati is working on a new business model with accent on mobile TV to increase its revenue.

The broadcaster, which is bound by social obligations because of its public character, has been looking for ways to generate some extra money and hopes things would look up in the coming months.

Prasar Bharati CEO B S Lalli told media that he is upbeat about the mobile TV initiative, which Doordarshan had launched earlier this year on a pilot basis, and sees immense revenue earning potential given the first mover advantage.

The mobile TV in association with Nokia on DVB-H technology would be available to subscribers within a radius of 10-12 km from Akashvani Bhavan on Parliament Street here.

Currently, eight channels of Doordarshan are available on the mobile TV platform, which would later be increased to 16.

Besides, he said, with Prasar Bharati being vendor- neutral, others can also come into the field helping generate competition as also ensure competitive rates of the handset.

The DVB-H enabled mobile handset currently comes at a price of Rs 30,000 but the broadcaster expects this price to come down significantly in the range of Rs 16,000-Rs 18,000 once the volume of business goes up, he said.

"The mobile TV could become a major source of our revenue generation if everything goes well. Currently, the project is in pilot phase and we will be investing about Rs 100 crore," Lalli said