Trying to give a fresh lease of life to the public broadcaster, the Prasar Bharati Board has decided to take concrete steps to further its revenue, including renting out unused equipment and asking Ministries to pay up for social message slots.

The Group of Ministers on Prasar Bharati, which met last month, had decided to share the burden with the public broadcaster on a 50:50 basis to ease its financial worries.

The PB Chairperson, Ms Mrinal Pandey, said that the board has asked Ministries to give money for the various slots they get on DD and AIR. “We have also asked them to explore whether they want to set up individual channels for their developmental programmes,” she added.

Prasar Bharati has a large number of equipment which are lying unused specially in small centres, she added. These equipment can be rented out to private players who need it for at least three-four hours a day.

Apart from this, the Board was also considering a proposal to allow its trained human resources to be outsourced to others.

The proposals which are part of a vision document prepared by a four-member committee, headed by Ms Pandey, also include setting up training centres for private players. “We are ready to hire some people with specialised talent to guide us in these ventures,” she said.

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