Panel moots digital arm for state broadcaster Prasar Bharti

Prasar Bharti, the public broadcaster that runs All India Radio and Doordarshan, may get a digital arm to reach out to the increasing number of internet and smartphone users, if the recommendations of a government working group are accepted.

The working group has said that in addition to television and radio, Prasar Bharati should get a third arm - Prasar Bharati Digital - to keep up with the times.

The government had earlier appointed an expert committee headed by technocrat Sam Pitroda to examine the functioning of Prasar Bharati, which then created 11 working groups to examine various aspects of the public broadcaster.

One of these working groups, headed by Pankaj Pachauri, communications advisor in the Prime Minister's Office, had suggested the creation of Prasar Bharati Digital.

The sub-committee is learnt to have recommended that Prasar Bharati's digital wing should be ''authentic'', accessible and a highly interactive platform.

Prasar Bharati Digital should in due course launch mobile apps to disseminate and popularise its content on smartphones, the sub-panel on new media has recommended.

In the recommendations submitted to the Pitroda committee, the panel has suggested that Prasar Bharati Digital should be set up with a team of 10 young professionals headed by a director and supported by three additional directors.

The sub-committee has also envisaged that the new entity would work closely with Doordarshan and AIR, and report directly to the Prasar Bharati board.

Under the recommendations, Prasar Bharati's digital wing would not only source content from Doordarshan, AIR and other government organisations but also facilitate generation of new streams of content.

The sub-committee's suggestions would now be studied by the expert committee, which has Pitroda, former I&B secretary Asha Swaroop, filmmaker Shekhar Kapur, IIT professor M P Gupta and Prasar Bharati chief executive Jawhar Sircar as members.

Sources said the working group on new media has also suggested that the online and social media presence of Doordsarshan should be increased and also called for bringing out a social media policy that can guide Prasar Bharati in its approach.

It has suggested that the present websites of Prasar Bharati, Doordarshan and All India Radio should be made more interactive and engaging.

The committee has also recommended increasing activity and engagement levels of the existing social media channels of these sites.