India’s national broadcaster Prasar Bharati has appointed Ernst & Young Private Limited as the project management consultant for an ambitious direct-to-mobile (D2M) broadcasting initiative, according to a report in storyboard18.com yesterday.

The global consultancy firm has been tasked with finalizing a comprehensive roadmap, including a sustainable revenue model, for the national rollout of D2M technology, the report stated.

The development follows nudges from policy-makers and the government’s own stand on the terrestrial D2M technology, though some people in the broadcasting sector have opined that this new technology could open up newer regulatory challenges, including rights of content, especially live sports, to be aired on D2M service.

The Storyboard18 report quoted unnamed sources as saying E&Y’s mandate includes ensuring that the new model complements rather than disrupts existing public broadcasting services such as Prasar Bharati’s WAVES OTT and Doordarshan’s free to air DTH service, FreeDish.(https://www.storyboard18.com/television/breaking-prasar-bharati-appoints-ey-to-spearhead-d2m-broadcasting-strategy-78154.htm)

The 13th report of the parliament’s Standing Committee on Communications and Information Technology, released in July, does dwell on D2M technology and policy-makers interest in it.

At one point in the report the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB) admitted it has advised Prasar Bharati to prepare a road map for offering D2M service as a public service after taking into consideration the various issues raised by stakeholder Ministries.

“The Committee would like to be apprised about the outcome of these initiatives and depending on its success, the Ministry may initiate the Direct Mobile Broadcasting in more cities of India,” the parliamentary report observed.

The committee members took note of the fact that MIB informed it that Prasar Bharati has signed an MoU with IIT, Kanpur for collaborative activities in various areas and Proof of Concept for Next Generation Technology- Direct to Mobile Broadcasting (D2M)- was carried out by Indian Institutes of Technology in Kanpur, Bengaluru and Delhi.

“The Committee observe that the Ministry is in the process of finalizing a suitable policy on Digital Terrestrial TV along with identifying areas where such transmission would continue with choice of appropriate technology. The Committee also note that for Direct to Mobile Broadcasting, IIT Kanpur has been assigned the collaborative activities and has initiated it in some of our cities,” the parliamentary panel report said.

Last year, while speaking at a conference on emerging technologies in New Delhi, MIB Secretary Sanjay Jaju had  highlighted the Ministry’s role in shaping growth-oriented policies and initiatives for enabling the broadcasting sector, including the benefits of D2M broadcasting, which enables content delivery directly to mobile phones.