In an effort to distribute its content to international markets, DD India has signed an agreement with German public service broadcaster Deutsche Welle (DW).

This agreement will help India’s public broadcaster get a global footprint with its programmes becoming part of the Free-to-Air basic pack on a DTH platform.

Under this agreement, DD’s overseas channel will be available on the DTH platform of Hotbird-13 B satellite and DW-TV will be distributed on DD Freedish. This will be the first time in the history of Prasar Bharati that DD programmes will be available on an international DTH platform.

DD’s international channel will be beamed across 120 million households in Europe, Northern Africa, Central Asia as well as West Asia. Prasar Bharati has paid about ₹90 lakhs to DW under this agreement.

Important platform

Prasar Bharati CEO Jawahar Sircar said, “This agreement will provide an important platform to position DD’s content globally and projecting India’s viewpoint to a global audience. The programmes will target different cultures keeping in mind different languages and sensibilities. Our focus audiences will be NRIs and the Indian diaspora as well as foreign nationals who are keen to learn and know about India.”

The programmes will be a mix of current affairs and discussions besides material from DD’s archives, documentaries, and the best of Indian movies that can be repackaged for international viewing. But DD’s budget for the production of these programmes is only about ₹2-3 crore. An inter-ministerial committee including the Foreign Affairs Ministry, Tourism Ministry, Culture Ministry and others will work on the programming.

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