The government yesterday informed Lok Sabha (Lower House of parliament) that it has been its continuous endeavour to upgrade facilities and technologies for radio and TV services, which all go to expand its rural media outreach in the country.

The efforts include since 2019 commissioning 264 community radio stations (CRSs), six new Doordarshan channels and upgrading 17 TV channels of the public broadcaster, apart from the fact that DD FreeDish, a free to air DTH service, has grown from hosting 104 TV and radio channels to 510 channels presently, including 320 educational channels, and starting of Prasar Bharati’s OTT platform WAVES.

According to an official statement released by the government, Minister of State for Information & Broadcasting L. Murugan informed his fellow parliamentarians via written replies that to further strengthen and upgrade the existing CRSs, 26 stations have been provided financial assistance from the financial year 2020-21 till date.

Murugan also added that the Government carried out an impact assessment of CRSs in 2017 and the report, ‘Study on Listenership, Reach and Effectiveness of Community Radio Stations in India’ was published in August 2018. As per report, the Community Radio has played a prominent role in fostering community engagement, promoting local culture, and disseminating information in rural and remote areas.

For Doordarshan Kendras, an impact assessment study on the publicity campaign was conducted in the left-wing extremism affected areas at Raigarh district of Chhattisgarh in Feb 2019. Awareness about jingles/spots broadcast from Akashvani Raigarh was recorded with 73.5 percent listeners. Weekly reach to jingles/spots from Akasvani Raigarh was found at 67 percent listeners.

According to the statement, the government’s continuous expansion and diversification of its rural media outreach through multiple platforms include the following initiatives:

# DD FreeDish service has grown significantly: from 104 channels in 2019 to 510 channels at present.This includes 92 private TV channels, 50 DD channels and 320 educational channels, apart from 48 Akashvani radio channels.

# In 2024, Prasar Bharati launched its OTT platform WAVES, a multi-genre digital streaming aggregator that integrates Doordarshan and AIR network channels, apart from hosting other types of content.

# Support and nurturing of community radio stations.

These platforms are playing a key role in making information, education, culture and news easily accessible to all. They are particularly impactful in rural and remote regions, the government said.