DD-India to launch its Kid’s channel

Doordarshan, the public broadcaster in India, has revealed about future launch of a free-to-air (FTA) channel for kids. The news was confirmed by Priya Sahu, the Director General of Doordarshan.

Commenting about the announcement, Sahu said: “There is a gap in our FTA bouquet on FreeDish of kids and we are working with the ministry of information and broadcasting and Prasar Bharati to plug it. As a public service broadcaster, we would be doing injustice to children we don’t come out with a kids specific channel”.

She also said that: “Soon, this year we should be finalising its launch. The idea is that we should keep in place a very lean and efficient structure so we don’t pump in a lot of money. Perhaps we should share resources with the private sector which is already having the content. Perhaps share the revenue appears to me to be the best way to go about it”.

“We have already done this in 19 places, digitized our analog transmitter. There is a huge opportunity that kids content will also be available on any smart phone and it is free of data charge and there will be downloading as well. By 2018, we will be making it available in 44 places. So simultaneously when we are working on the kids’ content, will work on its distribution also”, she further stated.