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The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs on Wednesday approved a ₹2,539.61-crore Broadcasting Infrastructure and Network Development (BIND) scheme for Prasar Bharati till 2025-26.
The BIND scheme, a vehicle of the Information & Broadcasting Ministry, provides financial support to Prasar Bharati for expansion and upgradation of its broadcast infrastructure and content development.
The funds will be used to increase coverage of All India Radio FM transmitters to 66 per cent in terms of geographical area and 80 per cent by population, from the current 59 per cent and 68 per cent respectively. The scheme also envisages free distribution of over 8 lakh DD Free Dish STBs to people living in remote, tribal, LWE and border areas, an official statement added.
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“The BIND scheme will enable the public broadcaster to undertake a major upgradation of its facilities with better infrastructure, which will widen its reach in the border and strategic areas, and provide high quality content to viewers. Another major priority area is the development of high-quality content for both a domestic and international audience, and ensuring availability of diverse content to viewers by capacity upgradation of the DTH platform to accommodate more channels,” the official statement said.
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Constitutes Working Group to look into Return Path Data for TV viewershipPurchase of OB vans and digital upgradation of DD and AIR Studios to make them HD ready will be also be undertaken as part of the project.
“The project for modernisation and augmentation of broadcast infrastructure also has the potential to generate indirect employment by way of manufacturing and services related to supply and installation of broadcast equipment. Content generation and innovation for AIR & DD has the potential to generate indirect employment. Further, the project for distribution of DD Free Dish is expected to generate employment opportunities in manufacture of the DD Free Dish DTH Boxes,” it added.
As the public broadcaster, Prasar Bharati, through Doordarshan and All India Radio, is the most important vehicle of information, education, entertainment and engagement for the people, especially in the remote areas. Prasar Bharati played a crucial role in communicating public health and awareness messages during the Covid pandemic, the statement added.
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