Indian Public Broadcaster Prasar Bharti to launch Mobile TV initiative to boost revenues

Prasar Bharati CEO B S Lalli said that he is upbeat about the mobile TV initiative, which Doordarshan had launched earlier this year on a pilot basis, and sees immense revenue earning potential given the first mover advantage.

Strapped for funds, public broadcaster Prasar Bharati is working on a new business model with accent on mobile TV to increase its revenue. The broadcaster, which is bound by social obligations because of its public character, has been looking for ways to generate some extra money and hopes things would look up in the coming months.

Prasar Bharati CEO B S Lalli said that he is upbeat about the mobile TV initiative, which Doordarshan had launched earlier this year on a pilot basis, and sees immense revenue earning potential given the first mover advantage. The mobile TV in association with Nokia on DVB-H technology would be available to subscribers within a radius of 10-12 km from Akashvani Bhavan on Parliament Street here. Currently, eight channels of Doordarshan are available on the mobile TV platform, which would later be increased to 16. Besides, he said, with Prasar Bharati being vendor-neutral, others can also come into the field helping generate competition as also ensure competitive rates of the handset.

The DVB-H enabled mobile handset currently comes at a price of Rs 30,000 but the broadcaster expects this price to come down significantly in the range of Rs 16,000-Rs 18,000 once the volume of business goes up, he said. "The mobile TV could become a major source of our revenue generation if everything goes well. Currently, the project is in pilot phase and we will be investing about Rs 100 crore," Lalli said.

New strategy

Lalli said the creative team is working to develop tailor made content, which is very essential. Prasar Bharati is also formulating a new marketing strategy to promote its channels. "The focus will be on the regional channels and to improve programming content. We will also digitise our archives, which can be another source of revenue generation," he added.

DD News has also been given a new look. "With this makeover, the TRP ratings of DD News has increased in the last 3-4 months," Lalli said. Prasar Bharati has also given innovative proposals to the Information and Broadcasting Ministry to help DD channels become competitive in an era of dominance by private players. The broadcaster, which has an expenditure of Rs 2,000 crore, receives only 1,200 crore from the government as grants to fulfill its social obligation among other things.

Source: NDTV Profit