Information and Broadcasting Minister Anurag Thakur said on Thursday that pubcasters Doordarshan and All India Radio were faring well vis-à-vis competition from private sector broadcasting, with AIR’s FM channels having larger listenership compared to private sector FM stations.

“Prasar Bharati has informed that overall DD channels have retained almost similar positions in their genres vis-a-vis private channels in the last few consecutive years as per Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) ratings, whereas All India Radio FM channels have higher listenership compared to many private FM channels,” the Minister said in Rajya Sabha (Upper House of parliament).

Thakur was replying to a query from a fellow parliamentarian whether the programmes telecast by the Doordarshan and All India Radio were “less popular in comparison to the programmes of private channels”.

According to Thakur, Doordarshan was committed to quality content and, accordingly, has taken several steps to produce and acquire high quality programmes for its network.

“DD has also launched content sourcing portal for submission of suo-moto proposals under Direct Assignment Process (DAP) by production houses,” he explained, adding, “AIR constantly revisits its content keeping in view the geography, ethnicity, language, culture, traditions, local flavours and needs of listeners of coverage area. Content reforms are a continuous process at various levels.”

Instituioonal Mechanisms take Care of Advertising Complaints: Meanwhile, Thakur also allayed fears from another parliamentarian in Rajya Sabha that government advisories and initiatives against airing betting and gambling ads were inadequate.

Pointing out that betting and gambling regulations were framed by the States, which are capable of handling such issues, Thakur said, “There is an institutional mechanism for handling of grievances/complaints relating to violation of codes and norms in respect of advertisements on various media platforms.”

The Minister further pointed out that MIB had issued an advisory in June to print, electronic and digital media to refrain from publishing advertisements of online betting platforms, which are misleading, and do not conform to the Consumer Protection Act 2019, Advertisement Code under the Cable Television Networks Regulation Act, 1995, and advertisement norms under the Norms of Journalistic Conduct laid down by the Press Council of India.