One-time fee on Radio, TV likely to fund Prasar Bharati
The government on Saturday said it is contemplating imposing an annual fee or a one-time licence fee on the purchase of radio and television sets in order to make public broadcaster Prasar Bharati financially and professionally autonomous.
The government on Saturday said it is contemplating imposing an annual fee or a one-time licence fee on the purchase of radio and television sets in order to make public broadcaster Prasar Bharati financially and professionally autonomous.
Information and broadcasting minister S Jaipal Reddy said this was being contemplated in order to guarantee financial autonomy for the public broadcasters All-India Radio and Doordarshan.
“The Prasar Bharati has no capacity to increase its resources and depends on the government for financial support,” Mr Reddy said at a seminar, ‘A decade of citizen’s initiative’, organised by Jan Prasar.
Against an estimated expenditure of Rs 1,800 crore, revenues of Prasar Bharati are only around Rs 600 crore, he said, adding that almost two-thirds of the financial requirement were being met through government resources.
