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Prasar Bharati DTH to carry 200 Channels

Says I&B Minister.

 

          Information and Broadcasting Minister Ambika Soni said on 15-01-2010, that she has asked Prasar Bharati to work towards offering at least 200 television channels on the country’s only free-to-air direct-to-home (DTH) platform, DD Direct Plus.

 

        ''We are discussing the matter with the Prasar Bharati people, and I have asked them to try to increase the number of FTA channels to about 200,'' Information and Broadcasting Minister Ambika Soni told reporters here after releasing the annual India 2010 and Bharat 2010 reference manual brought out by the Publications Division and the Research and Reference Division of her Ministry.

 

 

       Currently, DD Direct Plus carries 57 channels, apart from 21 channels of All India Radio. The TV Channels include 21 Doordarshan channels, Soni said the decision to increase the number of channels on DD DTH was in consonance with the objectives of the Ministry to make the public broadcaster of maximum use to the public.

 

 

       Earlier this year, Soni had denied in Parliament that any television channels had withdrawn from DD Direct Plus. She said DD Direct Plus signals were available in the entire country except the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.

 



     DD sources told that it may be possible to increase the number of channels on the platform as the annual carriage fee that broadcasters have to pay has been lowered. The carriage fee for all private FTA channels has been brought down from Rs 10 million to Rs 2.5 million along with a service tax of Rs 300,000. However, foreign broadcasters have to pay a carriage fee of Rs 5 million.

 

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