Lok Sabha Question No. 5709 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2019-07-26
Subject: DTH Service
Ministry: INFORMATION AND BROADCASTING
Asked by: Chandra Prakash Joshi, Srinivas Kesineni

## DTH SERVICE

5709.

SHRI CHANDRA PRAKASH JOSHI:

SHRI SRINIVAS KESINENI:

Will  the  Minister  of  INFORMATION  AND  BROADCASTING  be pleased to state:

(a)  whether  Doordarshan  has  taken  measures  to  popularize  its free 'Direct-to Home' service, if so, the details thereof along with the outcomes achieved in this regard;

(b) whether 'Direct-to-Home' service of Doordarshan is not quite as  popular  as  private  'Direct-to-Home'  services  mainly  due  to unavailability of standard equipment and the absence of recognised professionals for setting up of 'Direct-to-Home' services;

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA

## MINISTRY OF INFORMATION & BROADCASTING

## LOK SABHA

UNSTARRED QUESTION No. 5709

(TO BE ANSWERED ON 26.07.2019)

(c)  if  so,  the  details  thereof  along  with  the  remedial  measures taken/being taken by the Government in this regard; and

(d)  whether  the  Government  is  considering  to  formulate  new licensing norms for DTH players and if so, the time by which the new norms would be put in place?

## ANSWER

THE MINISTER OF ENVIRONMENT, FOREST AND CLIMATE CHANGE; AND MINISTER OF INFORMATION AND BROADCASTING (SHRI PRAKASH JAVADEKAR)

(a) Doordarshan  has  taken  several  steps  to  popularize  DD  Free Dish.    As  per  the  policy  guidelines  introduced  for  allotment  of slots of DD FreeDish Platform to private satellite TV channels in January 2019, all genres such as General Entertainment, Movies, Music, Sports, News and Current Affairs, Devotional and Regional etc.  are  given  fair  opportunities  to  be  placed  on  DD  Free  Dish Platform. Low entry barrier for Spiritual/yoga/aayush channels on DD FreeDish has also been introduced.

DD FreeDish has a rich and vibrant bouquet of Doordarshan and  private  channels  so  that  more  and  more  number  of  people have an access to affordable and quality information comprising of 94 SD TV channels including 57 private channels and 37 radio channels.  To empower people in remote, hilly, border and tribal areas Doordarshan has also distributed free DD Free Dish Set Top Boxes  from  time  to  time.  Recently  30000  DTH  sets  were distributed in border areas of J & K.

Publicity  of  DD  FreeDish  has  been  undertaken  through Doordarshan channels, AIR stations and Bill Boards etc. Doordarshan  has  taken  advantage  of  high  viewership  events, such as Cricket World Cup 2019, IPL 2018 and FIFA U17 in 2017 to conduct roadshows and special discussion programs to create awareness about DD Free Dish within consumers.

(b)&  (c)  DD  FreeDish  is  quite  popular  as  it  is  evident  from  the Performance  Indicator  Report  of  quarter  ending  March,  2019 which  pointed  out  that  there  are  72  Million  subscribers  of  5 private DTH  operators, compared  to more  than 30 Million subscribers  of  DD  FreeDish  estimated  by  KPMG  in  its  report  of 2018.  State of the art professional uplinking facility is available for DD FreeDish.

(d) Formulation  of  new  policy  norms  for  DTH  is  an  elaborate exercise. Consultations/deliberations with the stake holders have been held to discuss various issues involved. ******