Community radio stations to be launched in Tamil Nadu and Uttaranchal

Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Government of India, has signed a Grant of Permission Agreement for establishing, maintaining and operating a Community Radio Station at M. Kumarasamy College of Engineering, Tamil Nadu, at National Institute for Visually Handicapped, Dehradun and at The Energy Resources Institute, Uttaranchal. Letter of Intent had been issued to the Institute after recommendations of the Inter Ministerial Committee and seeking requisite clearances from various Ministries. The Community Radio Station is expected to be operational within three months as per the agreement. With this, the number of CRS will increase to 66 in the country. The Community Radio Station in Tamil Nadu is to promote and provide education to the economically backward people and create awareness among the local community on child and human rights, culture and tradition and health hazards. The Community Radio Station at Dehradun will disseminate information on education, training, employment and other facilities available for the visually challenged, their families and community institutions, and will serve as a platform to showcase their talent. It will be used as a training studio for the visually challenged students in mass communication and broadcasting. The Community Radio Station named "Kumaon Vani" established at Uttaranchal, will bring the local communities on a common platform, and enable better communication and flow of resources between them.

No takers for DD's global transmission rights

There are no takers across 50 countries for the distribution rights of public broadcaster Doordarshan and its dozen regional channels. Key potential markets include the US, Canada, UK, Australia, West Asia, and Southeast Asia. This means the country's national broadcaster is unavailable for 30 million non-resident Indians.

Twice in the past six months, Prasar Bharati has come out with tender notices seeking global distributors of Doordarshan channels, including the flagship DD National and DD News, but they drew little response, say senior Doordarshan officials. This may result in the cash-strapped broadcaster losing a revenue opportunity of around Rs. 35 crore from five-year rights. Prasar Bharati first floated the global tender in September last year, followed by another in December. Prasar Bharati, though an autonomous body, depends on loans and grants-in-aid from the government to fund its operational needs.

TRAI releases consultation paper on uplinking/downlinking of TV channels in India

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has today released a consultation paper on-"Policy issues on up-linking/down-linking television channels in India". The Ministry of I&B had on October 8, 2009 requested TRAI to give its recommendations on various issues, including the cap on number of satellite television channels and the eligibility criteria for, and process of granting, permission and guidelines to develop the country into a teleport/hub for up-linking of TV channels which are not meant for viewing in India. The above reference received from Ministry was earlier placed on TRAI website to solicit preliminary views of the stakeholders on the subject. Taking into account the preliminary views of the stakeholders, TRAI has issued a consultation paper on the subject. The Authority has invited all stakeholders to respond to the issues raised in this consultation paper by April 5, 2010. Comments will be posted on TRAI website as and when received. Counter comments, if any, to the comments received, can be sent to TRAI by April 15, 2010.