Prasar Bharati collaborates with IIT Kanpur for 'Direct to Mobile' broadcasting trial

Prasar Bharati CEO Shashi Shekhar Vempati has informed that the public broadcaster has collaborated with IIT Kanpur to test the feasibility of the 'Direct to Mobile' broadcast. "In collaboration with IIT Kanpur, we are trying to see if we can do 'Direct to Mobile' broadcasting. If this happens, in the future, we will see smartphones directly receiving broadcast content," Vempati said while delivering the keynote speech at the 10th edition of CII Big Picture Summit. 

"To make content more accessible, we are collaborating with IIT to see if we can develop algorithms which can enable the creation of same content for multiple platforms, in multiple languages through Artificial Intelligence," he added. Vempati also noted that in the event of a high-viewership event such as the IPL, there is no reason why millions of users need to receive that content on a unicast mode through the Internet. "If this works, all of that content can be delivered directly on broadcast frequencies to the people on their smartphones or smart TVs."

He also spoke at length about the public broadcaster scaling new heights of content, creativity, and innovation by converting archival footage into modern shareable file formats. Convergence of television and radio content through technology was the way forward, he said. Prasar Bharati, Vempati said, is open to collaboration with private broadcasters in the field of creativity and innovation. "One of the areas that I would look forward to for more collaboration with private broadcasters is to be able to identify these technology problems that we can collectively solve so that we create this intellectual capital in India. It is important that we don't just make content in India for the world, but we also make the underlying technology for the world which will power this content innovation."

Vempati noted that one of the major changes being driven by Prasar Bharati is convergence across TV & Radio, on both the content & infrastructure side. "A lot of interesting content Radio (AIR) creates which has not been available to Digital or TV audience. We are making audio content visually rich," he stated. The Prasar Bharati chief also said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi's 'Mann Ki Baat' is perhaps the first radio programme to have a visual presence. "We have built on that success and now a host of Radio programmes are being visually enriched," he added.