Goa :Minister for Information & Broadcasting Prakash Javadekar assured to make Doordarshan and All India Radio competitive and turn them into high quality public broadcaster that people can refer to. “They should give competition to other channels,” he said.
Javadekar added, “We are speaking to all FM broadcasters and Phase III will be announced shortly. We are taking a decision on Phase III and IV of the digitisation process and 11 crore set top boxes may be imported from China. The Ministry is considering whether to give impetus to local manufacturing of set top boxes, or to import them from China.”
While addressing Goafest delegates, Javadekar mentioned that one of his top priorities is to enhance the position of DD and AIR and added that he has conveyed to cable operators that while he is concerned about their problems, it has been made clear to them that he will be receptive to their issues once they agree to carry DD in the mainline.
Answering on TAM, the I&B Minister said that although ratings are an issue, “if the advertisers don’t have a problem, then who are we to do anything? Let the market forces decide.” He further said, “If the advertisers and broadcasters are coming together to present a viable solution, then it is a better option.”
